By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

Each year, near the end of April, the City of Hastings Parks department organizes a city-wide park clean up. The last Saturday of April, eager volunteers normally gather at Vermillion Falls Park to collect needed supplies and their assigned park to head out and get cleaning. Thanks to COVID, that is different again this year.

Instead of all gathering at one spot on one day, residents are encouraged to plan their own day and time to get out and clean a park. The DIY plan is simple. Contact Paige at Parks and Rec by either calling 651-480-6182 or emailing [email protected] Paige will help secure the needed supplies and assign a park for your group to clean up. If you have one you would like to work on, you can certainly request that, and those requests are taken on a first come first served basis.

A prime example is when the Hastings Hawks help organize a cleanup of the baseball field at Veteran’s park with Hastings Youth Athletic Association (HYAA) and other organizations in town, but the smaller ball fields and multiuse fields need love too, so if you were to request Veteran’s Park, Paige would guide you to that portion of the park.

If you are a business or group interested in donating supplies like gloves or bags, contact Paige as well, she can tell you what is used by crews around the town.

Those involved in cleanups are encouraged to maintain proper COVID protocol and mask up when near others as well as try to plan your work to be physically distanced as best as possible. Thank you for supporting our parks and trails!