Creek Week Cleanup: Volunteers sought; 'trash art' at 21st & Hwy 24
Sept. 24, 2018The annual Creek Week Cleanup is planned Sept. 29 to Oct. 6, and this year it will feature a trash-related art project at the northwest corner of Highway 24 and 21st Street.
To be part of the cleanup, which is supported by local governments and focused on litter in the Fountain Creek watershed, people are encouraged to form teams and go to fountaincreekweek.com.
For the project, a press release states, “volunteers will gather litter and then fill giant, 3-dimensional letters made from recycled metal that spell the word
In a past cleanup, a volunteer fishes trash out of
Fountain Creek at the south end of Vermijo Park.
Westside Pioneer photo
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The release adds that the art will be installed with a dedication Wednesday, Oct. 3. Scheduled to attend are Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Colorado Tourism Office Director Cathy Ritter. A final clean-up, with trash in-filling the last letter, will occur at 11:30 a.m., with the dignitaries speaking at noon.
The “Inspire” endeavor is sponsored by the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region and the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance. It is modeled after the national Litter Letter Project, with permission to use that group's logo and concept, the press release continues.
The aim is to “inspire artistic creativity, inspire passion for the outdoors, and inspire environmental stewardship by creating a public art piece that focuses on the efforts to keep our public lands and waterways clean,” the release adds.
According to Allison Plute of Colorado Springs Utilities, who serves as the Fountain Creek Watershed Project manager and Creek Week director, “trash is a huge issue in our community, and Creek Week has grown to be the largest cleanup in the state.”
When asked by the Westside Pioneer how homeless/vagrant camps near Fountain Creek will be addressed during the cleanup, Plute clarified that the Creek Week volunteers' training will explain the “associated hazards” of such camps, “which we ask our crews to steer clear of and report to the proper authorities.”
For additional information, Plute's phone is 668-4686.
Westside Pioneer/press release
(Outdoors:
General)
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