Cowtown Clean-Up Ready to Set Record

28th annual event takes place Saturday morning

Earth Day is two weeks away, but thousands have volunteered to clean up Fort Worth this weekend.

The 28th annual Cowtown Great American Clean-Up on Saturday is expected to be a record-setting event.

The Ridglea North Neighborhood is like many in Fort Worth, a relatively quiet and pristine place to live.

"It's a very large triangle and a very diverse triangle, but all of it needs trash pickup once in a while," resident Andy Bradshaw said.

Bottles, cardboard and plastic car pieces are all about to be picked up thanks to Bradshaw and a handful of his neighbors.

"We try to do the big things at least once a year," he said, saying the neighborhood regularly cleans up after itself.

"We've been doing it for several years now," Hagen Haentch, of Markum Ranch Estates.

Haentch and his family will patrol his neighborhood's streets once again in what he says is a fun weekend event.

"We like our neighborhood to be clean, but it's also a good time for the family to work together. It's a good time to connect with your neighbors," he said.

Neighborhoods and parks will be especially busy with a record 5,200 registered participants. Hundreds more showed up to pick up gear on Friday, the last day to do so.

"We've hovered around 4,000 for the last several years, and this year it jumped," said Debbie Branch, Keep Fort Worth Beautiful coordinator.

Branch said it took a little longer to find spots to send some volunteer groups, but it's a good problem to have -- as is having few T-shirts, gloves and trash bags left to give out.

She said she hopes that even after 28 years of cleanups, volunteer numbers continue to rise.

"I want those young people to be involved in it, because I feel that young people that participate in community cleanups are going to grow up and they won't litter," she said.

It's a concept Haentch and his family have endorsed.

"We've got five kids, so we've got a lot of little workers," Haentch said. "We'll try to keep them on the right side of the road."

After the cleanup, an Earth party for volunteers will be held at Sundance Square's Gateway parking lot from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

There is still a way for those who didn't sign up to participate. For more, click here.

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