Havre Pride cleanup week set this month

As spring comes to Havre, The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce is asking the community to get together and help clean up the city.

May 14-19 will be celebrated as Havre Pride Clean Up Week.

“(Clean Up Week) promotes a sense of community pride through a twice-a-year communitywide cleanup,” the Chamber’s official website says.

“We like to remind people in the spring to get out,” said Chamber Executive Director Jody Olson, “We think the area might be particularly bad because of the winter.”

This is the second year they have held the cleanup for a whole week instead of just one day.

“We found in the past that people are busy on Saturday and so if they could even get out during the week and just pick up around their business or their home, that would be helpful,” Olson said.

Olson said that they would like to make people aware of the cleanup.

“We have put out a few flyers and put it on Facebook (about the event) and that they can come here to get those big garbage bags that the state road department gives out,” she said

The Chamber ambassadors, including Ambassador Kim Cripps, who is a founder and has been a guiding force of the cleanup and helping for years, will be out cleaning as well, said Olson.

The poster for this year’s event gives suggestions on how to clean up as a group, business, school or individual.

The Havre Chamber encourage groups to find locations that need attention. They suggest the businesses and schools clean up around their property, roadways or school yard.

If a person is cleaning up on their own, they recommend people clean up their own neighborhood; curbsides and storm drains might need special attention.

Olson added that after this winter there are also a lot of branches lying around and she hopes some community members can help with cleaning those up.

“We want to get it cleaned up before the summer tourists come through,” she said.

Any person in need of the large road department bags can come to the Chamber to pick them up or call the chamber at 265-4383, Olson said.

“We have the city put out two of the big collection dumpsters. One by the Chamber on the corner of First Street and Fifth Avenue and then one up at Zip Trip in Highland Park … people can drop off their garbage there,” she added.

The Chamber also encourages community members to contact City Hall or the Chamber office if they are curious what areas need the most attention and if anyone posts pictures of the cleanup to Instagram, they hashtag it with #HavreCleanUp2018.

“We just encourage people to get out,” Olson said, “get together and find a spot to clean.”