Main Street’s Day of Service makes citywide cleanup a breeze

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Charles City cleaned up on Thursday, May 15, as the community came together to tidy up the town in a Communitywide Day of Service.

Organized by Main Street Charles City, the event encouraged groups, businesses, and individuals to set aside some time for some city-wide spring cleaning.

“We’ve been really happy with the way people are talking about this and being receptive to it,” said Community Development Director Mark Wicks.

Thursday marked the 57th anniversary of the Charles City tornado, inspiring the Main Street Charles City board to turn the day into something positive for the community.

“It’s a great idea that the Main Street board came up with and we’re thinking of doing it annually,” said Wicks.

But while not nearly as troublesome as it was 57 years ago, the windy afternoon did hinder some of the cleanup efforts as groups struggled to sweep up downtown.

“The wind was a problem,” said Wicks. “It really kept us from sweeping Main Street because it kept blowing back.”

In spite of the wind, there were still plenty of things to do.

From sprucing up planters to sweeping up parking lots, at least a dozen organizations were about town doing something to clean up the city.

“We had people cleaning along the riverfront. We had people cleaning along the trail,” said Wicks. “We were getting stuff done.”

Along with individual volunteers, Wicks identified the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, the Leadership Matters class, the Mayor’s Student Advisory Group, First Citizens Bank, First Security Bank, IC’s Social Justice Committee, Beta Sigma Phi, the Nosbisch Family, and the Party in the Park committee among the different organizations that came out to clean.

The Charles Theatre even contributed by offering up free popcorn to volunteers that came downtown to help.

But while Main Street coordinated with some organizations, other groups and individuals around town acted independently, whether going out on their own for a group project or simply cleaning up around their own business.

Either way, Wicks wants anybody that participated in a cleanup activity to send their any pictures and information they have to Main Street at 641-228-2335 or info@charlescitychamber.com.

“A lot of businesses were doing things and we don’t necessarily know what they did yet,” said Wicks. “We appreciate people letting us know what they did so we can keep an overall record of what happened today.”