Update April 26, 2003
I showed up at 10:45 AM and was greeted by a guy asking me for $5 at the park entrance. I didn't know there would be a soccer tournament today. I told him we were there to pickup trash, so he said I didn't need to pay. He said that a couple of trucks of people were there earlier to pickup trash but left - Sorry to those who showed up early but gave up waiting.
At this point, I was the only one there, but hoped others might still show up. I parked, set out trash bags and gloves for anyone to use, and got to work picking up trash. After a couple of hours, I had two bags full of trash and another bag's worth of heavy sharp items set in a pile near the bags and gloves. I set off to the concession stand/restrooms a 20 minute break, and when I came back, someone had stolen the trash I collected and the gloves and empty bags. While I was upset about losing my gloves and empty trash bags, what really squashed my enthusiasm was losing my pile of trash before I had a chance to take any pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it that I managed to make a small section of the road much cleaner.
I took my lunch break then, and hoped for someone else to join me. At 1:30 PM, I decided to call it off.
Updated on April 22, 2003! Text in italics is new or updated.
The location for this event has changed! After showing and talking over the original cleanup spot with the employees of the Des Moines Parks, it was determined that the big pile of trash I discovered near JR's Lilac Ranch appears to be just beyond the edge of the park property boundary. We then talked about alternative sites to clean up. The Des Moines parks suggested cleaning up the Hartford Road roadside near near Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines. As this is a heavilly traveled road to this busy Soccer Park, they would like to keep the roadside clean. As time and the number of volunteers permits, we may also go clean up a prairie restoration area near SW 9th Street.
I plan to start around 10:30 AM, break for picnic lunch around 12:30 or 1:00 PM, then contine through the afternoon. Show up when it works out best for your schedule. After the clean up, anyone that would like to may join us for dinner at a nearby restaurant to be determined.
Join the Central Iowa Geocachers to clean up and have fun for the Des Moines Parks. The Des Moines Parks people are happy to have us clean up. I strongly recommend bringing a pair of work gloves. I'll have a couple extra pairs of work gloves in case someone forgets. Bright clothing or an orange vest may also be a good idea Unfortunately I do not have orange vests lend out.
This is an excellent opportunity to help clean up while having fun and may count toward civic service hours for youth groups such as Boy Scouts. In addition to cleaning up the park, I will hide at least one special cache just for this event in the vicinity. I will provide the coordinates and description for this cache to the volunteers that show up to help clean up.
If you have an FRS radio, bring it along and tune it to channel 12. If your FRS radio has a privacy code, set it to privacy code 0.
If you think you will be able to join in on this event, please post a note at the bottom of this page along with an estimate of how many people in your group and how likely you are to show up.