People in both Augusta and North Augusta don’t talk trash. They clean it up.
Hundreds of volunteers showed up on both sides of the river for the third annual Trash Bash at the Border and spent three hours collecting trash on Saturday, Sept. 9.
The event is an annual partnership by the city of Augusta, Augusta Utilities, the city of North Augusta and Keep Aiken County Beautiful. It is also a fun rivalry between the two cities, with North Augusta taking the trophy for having the most volunteers last year.
In North Augusta, volunteers met at the Sharon Jones Amphitheater at 8 a.m. to the cheers of the North Augusta Middle School cheerleaders. Members of the Rotary Club of North Augusta were on hand as well.
North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams estimated the crowd right at around 100 and said he was proud to see such a diverse group of citizens show up to clean their city.
“The average person does not want to be on the city council or run for office, but they do have the intrinsic value of wanting to do something bigger than themselves and support the community. So, we had people from ages five to 75 out with their trash bags,” Williams said.
Volunteers in North Augusta fanned out along the riverfront, the North Augusta Greenway, Brick Ponds Park and Summerville Park.
Meanwhile, in Augusta, volunteers with Two Dudes in a Boat, Savannah Riverkeeper, Augusta Youth Leadership and Alpha Kappa Sorority, Inc. along with individual volunteers met at the Jesse Norman Amphitheater.
Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson says that over 100 people registered on the Georgia side of the river, but he believes even more than that actually showed up.
“It was a great day and lots of young volunteers showed up ready to work,” Johnson said.
Avid outdoorsman Russ Gambill, who used his kayak to clean areas from the 5th Street Marina to the 13th Street Bridge, says that he is heartened to see so many people take pride in their community and spend their Saturday morning helping beautify the area.
“The weather was perfect, it wasn’t too hot and all-in-all it was a great day on the river. It is really great to see the citizens come together and pitch in to make our city cleaner,” Gambill said.
The official winner of this year’s trophy will be announced later this week.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
