Volunteers clean up Bridgeburg ahead of Easter weekend

Thirty minutes into the second annual Bridgeburg cleanup on Saturday, volunteers were already loading bags full of waste into the bed of a pickup truck parked on Jarvis Street.

The cleanup, organized by Korinne Antaya, owner of The Fox Shop and Koko and Jinx, brought roughly 20 volunteers to Bridgeburg on March 21 to clear roadside trash, yard waste and overgrown vegetation before the north end’s first major community event of the spring season.

“I’m going to do it every year,” Antaya said. “As long as I’m on Jarvis Street, I’m going to do it.”

Last year’s effort, which brought out close to 60 people–mostly students from Fort Erie International Academy–pulled about 900 pounds of garbage from the neighbourhood. This year’s turnout was smaller in student numbers because of March break, though Antaya said participation from community residents and local business owners offset that gap.

“When you go do a yard cleanup or a beach cleanup or a property cleanup, your kids learn quickly not to litter, because somebody’s got to pick it up,” Antaya told Fort Erie Radio.

The collected waste will be hauled to a regional disposal site, where loads from community cleanups are accepted free of charge.

The event was not organized as an official Bridgeburg BIA program, though Antaya sits on the BIA and described the cleanup as broadly backed by local business owners. Dana Nadeau, owner of The Manic Maker, was among those on site, and Ward 1 Councillor George McDermott joined the cleanup as well.

“The street itself, it’s not the same as it used to be,” said McDermott. “We’re trying to bring it back to that, but it takes forever.”

McDermott said the cleanup is part of a larger effort to revitalize Jarvis Street, where public and private investment has steadily tried to rebuild the business strip. He described that work as slow and incomplete, with upkeep as important as capital spending.

“We’ve put the money in, now we’ve got to protect the investment by keeping it clean and tidy so people want to come here,” he said.

Cline Wood, a local student who heard about the event through his parents and volunteered, said the chance to earn community service hours brought him out, but he stayed for the same reason as many others.

“Helping the community is always nice too, and it’ll make the street look nicer anyways,” Wood said.

Though the turnout was lower than last year, Antaya appreciated the volunteers who did showed up.

“It’s Saturday. They could be doing other stuff,” she said. “So I know how lucky we are to see this involvement.”

Nadeau’s shop, The Manic Maker on Jarvis Street, will host an Easter fundraiser and raffle next weekend in support of No Bare Bums Niagara, a charity serving low-income Niagara mothers.

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