Fifty people fanned out across Cloquet for an Earth Day cleanup of the city’s parks and trails Saturday, April 24.
Volunteers met at the Dunlap Island warming house and armed with garbage pickers, bags and buckets they cleared debris from the banks of the St. Louis River and from the trails that criss-cross the city landscape.
Despite cool temperatures and a wintry mix falling, people from across the state came to the event to help keep clear public areas of trash.
“It’s great to be able to help out,” Joel Danko, of Eagan, Minnesota, said.
The Boldt Co. sponsored the cleanup. Jonathan Ballmer, Boldt’s business development manager in Cloquet, said volunteers collected more than 200 pounds of trash citywide during the two-hour event.
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Cloquet Community Development Holly Hansen, whose department partnered with Boldt in planning the cleanup, found an entire car windshield near the Minnesota Highway 33 bridge over the St. Louis River. Hansen rolled up the largest part of the windshield and then spent time picking up the shattered glass left on the ground.
Ballmer said he had hoped for about 100 people to attend, but was happy with the turnout considering the inclement weather.
When the volunteers returned to the Dunlap Island Warming House, staff from Carmen’s Bar and Restaurant grilled hamburgers for a post-cleanup picnic.
Ballmer said Boldt plans to make the Earth Day cleanup an annual event in Cloquet, but they also donated buckets and garbage pickers so the city can continue the cleanups throughout the year.
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