Second 1st Creek Clean Up will be April 12th

	Above, one of the Greenway bridges overwhelmed by the recent flooding. Your help is needed for the second clean up planned for April 12th starting at 9 a.m.

On Saturday, April 12, Old North Knoxville will be participating in the second annual 1st Creek First stream clean up. This year's clean up will be a coordinated event with various community groups cleaning the creek in its entirety from Fountain City to the mouth of the stream in downtown Knoxville. The goal is to clean the entire stream so that trash from one area will not simply float downstream to fill a newly cleaned area. 

Last year's stream clean up netted a variety of interesting finds including computer equipment, part of a barrel labeled corrosive, the drive shaft from a vehicle, trivial pursuit cards, and much, much more. At the end of our nearly 3-hour clean up we had 15 piles of refuse. 

After February's massive rainfall and flooding, there's no telling what we'll find. At one point, 1st Creek was so far out of its banks that one bridge looked as if it started in the water and ended in the water, and another bridge was completely underwater. This has left debris scattered along the 1st Creek Greenway, a walkway that follows the Creek from Broadway to Glenwood Ave. There is even some concern about bank erosion behind the transmission repair shop that borders the creek near where then greenway begins on Broadway.

	Above, a few of the Old North volunteers and some of the items pulled from 1st Creek during the first clean up last year.

This year's clean up will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the 1st Creek Greenway. Old North Knoxville will provide juice and bagels/doughnuts to those who'd like to gather at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of Luttrell & Hoitt. The Izaak Walton League will provide a safety lecture at the meeting site just before our 9 a.m. start time. Volunteers are needed for both shoreline clean up and to be in the creek. To volunteer a few hours of your time, or if you'd like more information, contact Beth Booker at kalrecop@bellsouth.net or at 524-8515.

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