Azalea Cleanup participants fill hundreds of trash bags.

Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
·2 min read

Mar. 25—Muskogee youth Laurenn Conard seemed grateful to have a long-handled trash grabber as she picked a smelly plastic strip out from a mud puddle Saturday morning.

Laurenn joined youth from Dean's Chapel Baptist Church and Mount Calvary Baptist Church as they picked up bags of trash throughout southeast Muskogee on Saturday morning as part of the Muskogee Azalea Cleanup.

The four-day cleanup drew hundreds of people from civic groups, church groups, even neighbor groups fanning out across Muskogee.

Hordes ventured out on Saturday, even after Thursday rains threatened to turn the event into the Azalea Mop-up.

"It's just a great effort to keep our community clean," said Lori Hytche-Thompson, who helped lead the church youth. Members of the Order of the Eastern Star also helped the youth, she said.

City of Muskogee Communications Director Tera Shows said the cleanup was a huge success.

"We had about 70 groups signed up to participate," she said. "We know there were more than 1,250 loads of trash delivered by residents to the collection sites."

She said groups are continuing their cleanup activities this week.

"We will have a better idea how many bags of trash were collected later in the week, once they are all collected," Shows said.

The city also opened its material yard for free dump days during the cleanup. The Waste Management Muskogee Landfill is redoing its entrance.

Lisa Goebel joined 10 people to clean around the historic Kendall Place neighborhood near downtown Muskogee. She said they picked up four truckloads of trash, and she picked up seven bags.

"There's a guy who does a lot of yards in Kendall, and he offered to take the trash to the dump," she said. "Armstrong Bank is really good too. They do a lot in this area."

Monica Reasor, who helped at Kendall Place, said the work made a difference, "but more needs to be done."

"We came across houses with trash leading from the street up to their door, and areas where residents were clearly tossing trash into the bushes next to their homes," she said. "We definitely need residents to take responsibility for their role in our city's appearance, and take pride in Muskogee."