BATTLE GROUND — Local parks were cleaned as summer approaches on Saturday thanks to several volunteers who participated in Battle Ground’s Park Appreciation Day.
At least 65 volunteers spent a gloriously warm and sunny morning picking up trash and other debris across five parks — Kiwanis Park, Fairgrounds Park, Central Park, Cresap Park, and the northern half of Florence Robinson Park.
At Kiwanis Park, cleanup started promptly at 9 a.m. with volunteers grabbing shovels, rakes and trash cans out of a trailer to help tidy up the 8-acre space.
Geoff French, of Battle Ground, walked around the front of the park with his 8-year-old daughter Dani French, picking up tufts of paper or discarded food wrappers they saw. His other children — Zac French, 14, and Gordyn French, 12 — focused on cleaning up a flower bed near the park’s entrance.
Geoff French said he volunteered to clean up the park they visit in the summertime to teach something to the children.
“It’s more to help the kids understand conservation and cleanup, taking care of what we have,” French said.
Francy Correa said she wanted to teach a similar lesson to 9-year-old Ronnie Correa.
“Growing up, I’ve always been volunteering,” Francy Correa said. “We try to do something good for our community. I wanted to show him the ropes to do nice things and keep our planet clean.”
“Yeah!” Ronnie Correa added. “Nature is a part of life. People need to save nature.”
Not every volunteer lived in Battle Ground. Candace Moon lives in Vancouver but works for the City of Battle Ground as a permit technician. She said she wanted to keep the city beautiful, even though she doesn’t live there.
“Battle Ground is a beautiful place. … I really do love working for the people who reside here,” Moon said. “Doing things like this regularly makes the community a safer and more accessible place for people to play, recreate and be healthy.”
2020 was different
Park Appreciation Day looked more normal this year, though everyone at Kiwanis Park had a mask. It was scrapped altogether in 2020 thanks to the COVID- 19 pandemic.
City of Battle Ground Communications Manager Bonnie Gilberti said the 2020 edition was called Yard Appreciation Day.
“It was kind of virtual. … People would email in pictures for what they were doing in their yards and shared yard tips and gardening tips,” Gilberti said. “We would put it on social media, and people would have conversations. It was a wonderful way to still have that community virtually.”
“Community” was also stressed by Kim Cederholm, the recreation and facilities manager for the city.
“It builds community involvement, and we get nice new parks afterward,” Cederholm said. “It’s a feel-good thing that brings the community together.”
Both Gilberti and Cederholm said they were thankful for the weather and said it may have helped increase turnout.
“We didn’t know the weather would be this good when it was organized, and people were still stepping up to help,” Gilberti said. “It’s always been a rain-or-shine event, and today we got the shine.”
‘A community that really cares’
Gilberti also attributed the increase in volunteers to the city’s Adopt-a-Park program, which has individuals, groups or business “adopt” a park and have similar clean-up events at least once a month for the annual contract. iQ Credit Union was the adopter of Kiwanis Park for Park Appreciation Day.
Cederholm initially estimated that about 40 people had volunteered for Saturday’s efforts, but Gilberti said in a later email that at least 65 people — 27 just at Fairgrounds Park — had helped out.
“Battle Ground has always been known as a community that really cares and pulls together,” Gilberti said.
