Cars, trucks, trailers and people converged at the Winnfield Recreation Center beginning around 11 a.m. Saturday, each delivering bags of litter that volunteers had picked up along roadsides all across the parish.  The final count was 226 bags.

The Police Jury, City of Winnfield and LSU AgCenter cooperated on the beautification campaign with the overall theme “Love the Boot,” (that being boot-shaped Louisiana).  Many on the organizing team sported light blue tee shirts with that theme emblem.

“I feel this was a good turnout,: said jury president Frank McLaren.  “I’m proud of the participants and hope to see a future growth of this event.  Let’s keep that litter picked up or better yet, don’t litter in the first place.”

Mayor Gerald Hamms also tagged the cleanup a “great success.  We picked up thousands of pounds of trash.  I appreciate all who turned out to clean up out roadside as well as those who worked this event.”

“Thanks goes to our community for coming together and making this event a success,” said LSU AgCenter agent Shannan Chevallier.   “But let’s not let our beautification and cleanup stop here.  We want to continue to keep clean the places where we live, work and play every day.”

Hamburger lunches and plenty of door prizes were enough to keep the crowd at the Rec engaged and excited.  Once the winning number of the final door prize was called, participants picked up the remaining bagged hamburger lunches and headed to their cars, passing the dumpster piled with 226 bags of litter, litter that was no longer on our roadsides.