Beach gets clean on Fifth of July
More than 100 pounds of trash was picked up at the Fifth of July Clean-up on Fort Myers Beach Monday. Many volunteers donated their time to the post-Independence Day beach front collection of fireworks, residue, cans, bottles, firework boxes and all other refuse left over from the prior evening’s festivities.
Trash pickup committees included the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation (formerly the FMB Pilot Club), Lee County Parks & Recreation, Keep Lee County Beautiful, the Town of Fort Myers Beach and Veolia Environmental Services. Other individual volunteers pitched in as well.
“I like to come here and help all the county fellows because they are all my friends,” said volunteer and Fort Myers resident Judy McCullough. “I come to the Beach a lot, and I think it’s nice that people volunteer to help out.”
McCullough was one of many aiding the FMBCF, Town of FMB and Lee Parks groups, who served as collection site hosts on the beach front at Lynn Hall Park. The 7:30 a.m. start saw a lot of participation.
“The town workers were out before I was, and they had a whole back of a pickup truck filled already,” said FMBCF member Jeannie Zumar at the Lynn Hall collection site.
With no organized fireworks show in downtown Fort Myers, the Beach was filled with party goers. There was one solid line of fireworks all the way down the beach front, according to FMBCF member Alice Plaatje, who worked the Newton Park site.
“We picked up a lot of stuff,” she said. “It wasn’t as large of a collection as last year, but it was hard work with a lot of small stuff.
Plaatje said the red sticks which hold the fire crackers were everywhere.
“Overall, it went very well,” said Plaatje. “We gathered from all the gloves and trash bags we passed out that a lot of people participated and a lot of tourists stopped by and offered to help. Everybody seemed to be very appreciative that someone was doing the clean-up.”