NewsApril 22, 2021
Park Day returns Saturday in Cape, Jackson after a 2020 shutout
Municipal officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson hope for good weather Saturday as both cities stage their first park cleanup day since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Friends of the Parks Day and the Great Cape Cleanup, the annual park beautification event, is hosted by the city's Parks and Recreation Department and the Keep Cape Beautiful Committee...
Municipal officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson hope for good weather Saturday as both cities stage their first park cleanup day since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cape Girardeau
Friends of the Parks Day and the Great Cape Cleanup, the annual park beautification event, is hosted by the city's Parks and Recreation Department and the Keep Cape Beautiful Committee.
Volunteers who have a specific park in mind for cleanup are encouraged to call Parks and Recreation for information on work scheduled there.
Residents may also sign up online in advance at www.cityofcapegirardeau.org/departments/parks/special_events/friends_of_the_park.
All others are encouraged to come to Capaha Park Shelter No. 3 beginning at 8:30 a.m. The workday is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to noon.
Department employees will supply volunteers with plantings, as appropriate, along with certain tools and trash bags for litter pickup.
Lunch, including hot dogs, will be provided afterward to workers, plus a T-shirt (Sizes are not guaranteed, and supplies are limited).
Turnout, according to Parks and Recreation director Julia Jones, depends a bit on the conditions.
"We hope for between 300 to 400 volunteers," said Jones, who acknowledged the weather forecast for Saturday may not be ideal.
"(Southeast Missouri State University) usually has fraternities and sororities signing up to fulfill service project hours and we have quite a few Scout troops, too, who come to spread mulch, plant flowers and pick up litter," she added.
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"I'd say the help we get for the Great Cape Cleanup equates to approximately $12,000 worth of volunteer labor," Jones said.
Jackson
The city's first Park Day was in 1991, said Shane West Anderson, who has been Jackson's Parks and Recreation director for nearly 24 years.
Anderson hopes for 100 volunteers with most of the work Saturday to be done in Jackson City Park.
"We'll need some work done in the rock garden, plus in the swimming pool parking lot, we'll need to put in plantings with some mulching in the islands," he said.
Loose tree limb and debris pickup are also needed, he said, in the main park.
Upgrades are also contemplated, Anderson said, to the entrances of Brookside and Litz parks.
"The biggest value of Park Day is to be able to see the people who walk and enjoy the park throughout the year — and we get a chance to say 'hi' and for me, that's the best part, those conversations," Anderson said.
Groups who want to stay together as they work are encouraged to call ahead so a work plan may be devised.
"The majority of folks just show up at 8 a.m. at Pavilion No. 1 on Parkview Street and we assign duties from there," Anderson said.
Breakfast, including doughnuts, coffee and orange juice, will be provided, along with a T-shirt, he said.
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