Taking out the trash is not my favorite chore, but on Sept. 25, I’ll be toting all the garbage I can handle – and I hope you will too, at the third annual White Rock Lake Trash Bash.
Unlike most weekend projects, this one is loaded with rewards from start to finish. The Dallas Parks and Recreation Department staff has organized door prizes, children’s activities and entertainment. They will be handing out embroidered volunteer patches and are even grilling up free burgers for everyone who pitches in to help clean up the shoreline of White Rock Lake.
Those among the first 100 garbage gatherers to race back with a full bag of litter will be rewarded with a free T-shirt. Now how many times have you gotten all this for bagging trash?
This is a great chance to link our community with neighboring Casa Linda, Forest Hills and Lakewood, in an effort going on all over Texas to clean up our lake areas.
Instead of getting our children to enter “save the earth” poster and essay contests, The Trash Bash could be a hands-on environmental field trip for the whole family. (If your labors seem like a drop in the bucket, it might help to know the 5-year-old clean-up effort, organized by the Texas General Land Office, has resulted in the removal of 1,000 tons of trash. Picture 1,000 tons of trash. That’s two million pounds of garbage.)
Jennifer McRorey, community program coordinator for District 1 in the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, has a special deal for you. Individuals or groups that pre-register by Sept. 15, will double their chances to win top-notch door prizes donated by area businesses. They are wonderful prizes such as restaurant meals, cycling equipment, a three-month membership at the White Rock Athletic Club and more.
For the first time, environmental groups and vendors will be allowed to hand out information and sell environmentally sound products at the event. Courtney Blevins of the Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council is organizing scavenger hunts, entertainment and earth-friendly arts and crafts projects for children.
White Rock Lake is vital to Lake Highlands. How many Dallas neighborhoods offer a hike and bike trail, quiet boating, fishing, bird watching, the nearby Arboretum, shaded picnic spots, horseback riders, and prize-winning sunsets? This is the perfect opportunity for scout troops, youth groups, neighborhood associations, gardening clubs, service organizations, and the rest of us to do a good deed and have a good time doing it.
For more information or to pre-register, call 670-8940. On Sept. 25, register from 8-9 a.m. at the Bath House area park. To get there, drive south on Buckner and turn right on Lake Highlands Drive. The clean-up will be from 9-11:30 a.m., following by a free lunch. Wear sturdy shoes, a hat, work gloves and a long sleeved shirt and slacks. Bring a rake if you have one. (Park Department maintenance employees will haul off the heavy stuff.)
And if you think the White Rock Lake Trash Bash is a good idea, wait until you hear about the White Rock Adopt-A-Shoreline program. That’s coming up next. See you on the 25th.
