Azalea Clean Up set to begin Wednesday

Mar. 21—Each spring, expect to see five or six volunteers from Jackson Hewitt pick up trash around their tax preparation office on Chandler Road.

"We like to have our neighborhoods nice and clean," area manager Robin Guthrie said, adding they plan to do it again during this week's Azalea Clean Up.

Volunteers from businesses, schools, churches and civic groups will clean neighborhoods and streets throughout Muskogee this week as part of the annual clean up, which runs from Wednesday through Saturday.

"It gets the community involved to clean up around Muskogee, try to take pride in our community," said Abigail Wright, environmental technician with the City of Muskogee. "We try to get it cleaned up before the Azalea Festival next month, so it will look nice when the visitors come."

Organizers say there is still time to sign up. Contact event organizer Samantha Henderson: (918) 684-6340 or by email at shenderson@muskogeeonline.org.

Henderson, a stormwater quality technician, said on Monday that she's "adding people every day" to the clean up list.

"Mainly groups, from different businesses and associations around town," Henderson said. "We have Girl Scout troops, we have schools, Boy Scout troops. We have groups from the different banks. We have all kinds of businesses, like Georgia-Pacific, Boulevard Christian, Jackson Hewitt, Daltile. Quite a few businesses and churches, United Way, Love Bottling."

Schools also are getting involved, including Hilldale, Oklahoma School for the Blind, Muskogee Head Start, Sadler Arts Academy, Pershing Elementary. she said.they clean the same area each year.

"Everyone kind of knows that this happens every year, so a lot of them sign up and call," Henderson said.

After the 2022 clean up, Wright said 633 volunteers from 46 groups picked up nearly 678 bags of trash.

This year, Wright said she hopes for more than 1,000 volunteers.

The City of Muskogee will provide volunteers with free cleaning supplies such as safety vests, gloves, bags, and trash grabbers.

City of Muskogee spokeswoman Tera Shows said clean-up organizers keep a master list of places to clean.

"Certain groups request locations," Shows said. "Maybe a church wants to clean up their neighborhood."

Organizers can assign locations for those who haven't chosen a location, Shows said. "We want to make sure the entire city is cleaned up."

Guthrie said it takes a couple of hours for Jackson Hewitt volunteers to clean their area.

"There's quite a bit of trash, usually five or six big black trash bags full," she said.

You can help

Azalea Clean Up

—Wednesday through Saturday.

—To volunteer: Call stormwater department at (918) 684-6340 or email shenderson@muskogeeonline.org

Free Dump Locations, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

—City Landfill, 2801 S. 54th St. West.

—City Material Yard, 1503 S. Cherokee St.

—Brush and Limbs (no stumps), 40th Street and Denver