Springfield gets the green-up treatment

Despite a cold, rainy start more than 150 people grabbed their bright green trash bags and got to work on Green-Up Day in Springfield.

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Springfield gets the green-up treatment BY KAREN ENGDAHL, The ShopperMay 10, 2017 SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Despite a cold, rainy start more than 150 people grabbed their bright green trash bags and got to work on Green-Up Day in Springfield. “I thought the weather might keep people away, but we’ve been busy!” said Caitlin Christiana, director of the local Chamber of Commerce, who was staffing the Green-Up headquarters at the People’s Bank parking lot. Behind her, a group of Springfield High School students put the finishing touches on the mulch they were spreading along the hedge-lined border of the parking lot. “These students worked on this project as part of their community service,” explained Christiana. “Woodbury’s donated the mulch. Doesn’t it look great!” In another corner of the parking lot the pile of bright green bags filled with debris was growing. Green-Up Day Caitlin Christiana, Brenda Stearman, and Joshua Bailey help Green-Up in Springfield. Photo by Karen Engdahl. “This one is really heavy,” said Joshua Bailey as he tugged another full bag to the pile. The youngster, along with Brenda Stearman, was sprucing up the stone wall at the end of the parking lot. Green-Up Day in Vermont is a special day when thousands of volunteers come out in their communities for a massive spring cleanup of litter. It is the largest statewide volunteer event in Vermont, with over 22,000 taking part. It was launched in 1970 by Governor Deane Davis, four days before the first Earth Day, with the idea to “marshal an army of thousands of volunteers to clean up litter from roadsides.” There was a lot of roadside litter back then. The interstate was closed from 9 a.m. to noon and the cleanup drew national media coverage. No longer organized by a state agency, Green-Up Vermont is a non-profit organization responsible for carrying on this great annual tradition, now providing over 50,000 Green Up bags every year. Every community in Vermont has a Green-Up Day. Roadsides, natural and public spaces, and waterways throughout the entire state are the focus for the litter clean up. Springfield volunteers celebrated their efforts with hot dogs (donated by Jake’s Market) after the cleanup. Springfield’s corps of Green-Up volunteers was supported by generous help from Woodbury Florist, Kelley Chrysler, HB Energy, and Trout River Brewery.