Gladewater’s Spring Citywide Cleanup Saturday will once again include a tribute to a longtime local driver.
Spearheaded by Gladewater City Hall, the community trash collection downtown runs 8 a.m. to noon on East Commerce Avenue. Personnel will be standing by April 11 to help locals unload their trash haul since Fall.
Simultaneously, volunteers with Gladewater Chamber of Commerce will be on patrol through the center of town, snagging all the roaming bits of refuse.
Chamber dynamo Lois Reed is recruiting helpers to lend a hand with the annual pickup of Main Street in memory of the late Marsha Valdetero, Reed’s predecessor as president of the chamber.
Reed never knows how much assistance she’ll have until the morning-of, but she’s eager as ever to be surprised by the turnout.
“We always coincide with city cleanup, in October and in April.”
The chamber’s group will gather at the southern intersection of Hwy. 271 and Loop 485 at 8:30 a.m. Saturday (in the parking lot of Penny’s Food & Fuel) before setting out north.
“We come straight up Main Street,” Reed said, picking up litter through downtown, crossing over Hwy. 80 and continuing to the northern intersection of the loop and 271.
The chamber will provide TxDOT-approved high-visibility vests and trash bags.
“If they want gloves, they need to bring their own,” Reed added.
The clean-up comes just ahead of annual Gusher Days activities, set this year on Friday and Saturday, April 17-18.
“We’re expecting lots of visitors, and we want our downtown to be clean.”
For the municipal collection, roll-off trash containers from Republic Services will be ready for drive-up and drop-up for any and all Gladewater citizens who show proof of residence in the city limits.
Notably, “We do not have the tire trailer this year. We did not get the grant for that,” per Gladewater City Secretary Judy Van Houten.
It means tires will be prohibited for this event, along with:
- Loose garbage
- Dirt, rock, sand
- Glass
- Construction materils
- Concrete
- Pallets
- Ceramic
- Tile
- Sheet Rock
- Roofing Materials
- Any materials resulting from contractual work or commercially related activities
- Hazardous Materials
- Paint
- Batteries
- Motor Oil
The list of no-go items broadly includes anything that contains refrigerant (such as freezers, air condition units and similar items). Refrigerant units that have been tagged by a certified technician and confirmed to be free of CFCs are permitted.