World Cleanup Day on the Speed River

It was a cloudy morning turning sunny on the Speed River riverbank as we tackled our first community cleanup, part of World Cleanup Day.

We are so thankful for everyone who showed up: kids and adults, gloves and grabbers in hand, boots in the water. Nobody flinched at the silt or the glass or the steep ravine we had to carry everything up to get back to the trail. Everyone was still smiling at the end of it. That is not a small thing when the job involves dragging 206 kilograms of debris uphill. Thank you — genuinely. You made the day work.

Low water helped. The Speed is well below its usual level, which put areas of the riverbed within reach that normally aren’t: three shopping carts buried in silt down by Eramosa, and a car tire that would otherwise sit below the waterline. Beyond the carts and the tire we found bits of everything else, some of them large. Loose winter boots, metal, clothing, cabinetry, broken glass, a deer skull.

We got a lot done in a short time and left the riverbank in much better shape than we found it. A team effort, start to finish. If you want in on the next one, join the crew!

Here is a short video of us wrestling carts out of the Speed: