STARKVILLE — Straighten up, Starkville. You”ve got company on Thursday.
Get Swept Up, an annual event where local businesses and individuals spend six to seven hours cleaning up the town, kicks off Wednesday at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.
More than 420 volunteers have signed up for the eighth edition, which comes a day before Mississippi State University hosts Louisiana State for a nationally televised football game.
The idea is to make Starkville look its best for the college football season.
Starkville businesses benefit greatly from home football games, as lodging, food and general sales tax revenue average $410,955 each Saturday.
Volunteers will pick up trash along the busiest thoroughfares in town, including Highway 389, Highway 12 and downtown Starkville.
“This is a time when the community really comes together,” Partnership Program Coordinator Robyn Cain said. “In the past, I think you”ve been able to tell a difference in the more high-traffic areas.”
The Partnership”s slogan “Fix up. Spruce up. Clean up” also encourages local business owners to pick up trash on their property and plant new flowers.
Program organizers say slots are still available as they”re roughly 100 volunteers short of last year”s total. Anyone interested in helping should meet at the Partnership building on Main Street at 7 a.m. Wednesday. The Partnership will distribute supplies between 7 a.m. and noon. Volunteers are asked to have their assigned areas cleaned by 2 p.m. so sanitation trucks can haul off the garbage.
“We”ve got some place I think are important to have clean that we don”t have volunteers for,” said Libby Gerald, volunteer coordinator. “We”re not so much trying to concentrate on the dirtiest areas; we”re trying to concentrate on the areas with the most traffic, like areas off the bypass.
Local organizations that have been involved the past years have their designated areas. For instance, the Starkville Rotary Club cleans downtown while St. Joseph Catholic Church handles University Drive. The Starkville High School JROTC will supply more than 150 volunteers Wednesday.
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