- November 18, 2024
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The city of Palm Coast’s Intracoastal Waterway Cleanup is an annual reminder that, really, we live in a pretty cleaned up place. Or maybe it’s just that I’m not fast enough to get to the trash first.
I brought my three children to the Colbert Lane parking lot at Lehigh Trail, on Saturday, Sept. 6, to get our supplies: T-shirt, water bottle, gloves, trash bags. My sons raced down the path with our group of friends to pick up litter, but my 4-year-old daughter, Ellie, took her typical circuitous, butterfly-like route, and so we ended up with some other young families at the tail end of our line of trash pickers.
It was a beautiful, overcast day, with some of the leaves having already changed from green to yellow, orange and red. We clip-clopped along the boardwalk and then reached the canopy of trees on the paved path.
At that point, the buzzing began in our ears. No amount of hand waving or neck slapping could protect us from these clouds of mosquitoes, which seemed to think our blood was lemonade. Ellie, in her princess sunglasses and pink baseball cap, looked at me with a frown on her face and said, “Is this a bug forest? I thought this was a trash forest.”
I looked ahead and estimated that we were about 200 yards behind the leaders in our group. We could either soldier through the bug forest in search of the scrap of gum wrapper that might have been missed by three dozen other begloved volunteers, or we could turn back now in shame and be content that the only evidence of our efforts would be a couple dozen itchy bumps.
But what kind of a father am I? Am I a coddler? Or am I a frontier father, a man who grits his teeth and lets the mosquitoes have their way with his own face just to demonstrate that building character isn’t always fun, but it’s worth it?
At this point, my sons came back down the path, too, having endured the bugs far longer than Ellie and I had. And so, we turned around and, where we had failed in leading the charge, we found we had great ability to lead the retreat.
We waited at the parking lot as the rest of our group trickled back, and noted that, even though our individual findings were meager, when you added up the dozens of garbage bags, it was clear that we had done something useful collectively.
As we were about to leave, though, we had the misfortune to meet Mr. Frontier Father himself. He wasn’t part of our merry band of mosquito bait, but he later told me his name was Jim Tisony. He was drenched in sweat and asked if he could dump his two bulging bags of garbage into the back of our leader’s truck for disposal.
Tisony said he had started a couple of hours earlier than we had, and that’s why he had found so much trash. He then asked if he could have any of our leftover bags, because he was going back for more.
Well.
Mr. Tisony, my hat is off to you. Only for a split second, though, because I don’t want to expose my head to the elements for any longer than is necessary. Next year, hopefully, we will hit the trail sooner and contribute more sweat and less blood to the effort.
BOX: THEY CLEANED UP
By the numbers
455 volunteers
74 groups, families and/or individuals registered this year
1,093 pounds of garbage
1,491 pounds of recyclables (This is the first year when recyclables outweighed the regular garbage.)
475 hotdogs eaten by volunteers
Most Unique F.I.N.D.: VHS tape
Other odd items collected include an Elmo flip flop, child’s Hot Wheels, decorative cat clock, flash light, golf ball, Barbie doll, iPod case, 2008 Intracoastal Waterway event water bottle, car keys, bike tire, pad lock, binocular lens cover, sling shot, circuit board, lawn chair
Source: City Administration Coordinator Denise Bevan
BOX: A view from the sidelines
Photo man: Steven Libby
Special thanks to Bob Rollins and Steven Libby, who helped us shoot photos for the Crosstown Showdown on Aug. 29. These two men are tireless and are motivated to help the high school athletes get some love in the newspaper.
From funeral home to chain gang
Also found on the sidelines at the Crosstown Showdown were four volunteers (Matt Maxwell, Sal Passalaqua, Allen Whetsell and Jack Morgan) who moved the chains for the referees. These four men from Craig Flagler Palms Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens have helped out in this capacity for a couple of years at Matanzas High School. Thanks for giving your time!
