More than 80 volunteers are expected at the City of Lexington’s annual Kentucky River Clean Sweep Saturday. Jennifer Myatt is an environmental initiative specialist with the city. She said for more than 25 years, volunteers have made a difference on the 12-mile stretch of the river in Fayette County. This year, they’ll meet at the city’s new park, Kelley’s Landing.
“There's not really any shoreline that you can walk along that's accessible. So we send people out in boats and canoes. We encourage people to bring their own boats. We always have a ton of kayakers every year who are very good at balancing trash bags.”
Myatt said even though the Kentucky River Clean Sweep is a one-day, annual event, it makes a difference, short- and long-term.
“It gets harder to find the trash every year, so our cleanup and the amount of education we do about litter and just people becoming more aware of litter and how they shouldn't be dumping trash into the river, and how they shouldn't be throwing litter out of their car windows -- people are becoming more aware of that.”
Trash bags, gloves and some life vests will be provided, but volunteers who have life vests are asked to bring their own. Myatt said most also bring their own boats or kayaks. Saturday’s clean sweep runs from 8:30 to noon – rain or shine. Lexington Environmental Quality & Public Works is a financial sponsor of WEKU.
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