Spruce-Up the Tobacco Valley Day
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the annual Tobacco Valley clean-up day! Glacier Bank proudly began and annually organizes this workday which is now a community tradition.
Young and old alike, showed their pride for our wonderful home by pitching in to spruce up the town and surrounding areas. This year Glacier Bank blocked off the street north of their building for the trash dumpsters. It's so great when helpers remember to separate their recyclables (plastic and metals) from the trash as Recycle Eureka was once again present with the large bags on loan from Lincoln County to collect recyclables.
Glacier Bank, as always, provided a delicious barbeque lunch on their plaza with all the fixin's from 11:30 - 1:00. Participants of all ages qualified for some great prizes! And, as in past years, a lucky girl and boy won a really cool bicycle!
.It's a huge success of a day and the turnout by our community is awe-inspiring. Everyone, of all ages, pitches in and has a great time doing it.
The Spruce-Up Day coincidentally occurs very close to Earth Day, April 22. The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He saw the need to promote public consciousness about air and water pollution and put environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Working with other members of Congress, he built a national staff to promote environmental awareness events across the land.
As a result, on April 22nd in 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. "It was a gamble," Nelson recalled, "but it worked."
It now is observed in 192 countries and celebrated by more than a billion people every year.
About the Author: Alice B Elrod is a longtime promoter, supporter and contributor to our community. I love living in this glorious valley. There are so many people here who ardently strive to help out and it's a pleasure to pitch in when I can. Writing for visitNWmontana gives me a chance to know more about our community lets me invest some creative time in getting the word out about how wonderful it is to call this place home. I also have the privilege to be involved in the community by working with the Creative Arts Council, Recycle Eureka and through my chiropractic practice, Elrod Chiropractic.
