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The annual Community Cleanup Day was held in Vicksburg on Friday morning. Roughly 50 community members showed up at the Vicksburg Convention Center to dawn safety vests and trash grabbers before being posted in different areas of the city to pick up litter. (Ben Martin | The Vicksburg Post)

Roughly 50 individuals volunteered to participate in the annual Community Cleanup Day in Vicksburg on Friday. (Ben Martin | The Vicksburg Post)

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. (left) and Bill Justice (right) discuss the logistics of Community Cleanup Day on Friday at the Vicksburg Convention Center. (Ben Martin | The Vicksburg Post)

Volunteers were issued safety vests and trash grabbers at Community Cleanup Day on Friday morning. They were then assigned to different areas of the community to pick up litter. (Ben Martin | The Vicksburg Post)

From the left: Laura Beth Strickland, Lilly Moore and Bill Justice were just some of the many people from different organizations who helped organize Vicksburg’s annual Community Cleanup Day on Friday morning. (Ben Martin | The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg’s third annual Community Clean-Up Day was hosted on Friday morning. Approximately 50 volunteers showed up at the Vicksburg Convention Center to help clean up high-traffic thoroughfares throughout Vicksburg.

Volunteers were issued yellow safety vests, trash bags and trash grabbers, then assigned to different locations around the city. The goal was to remove trash in high-visibility areas for both locals and tourists.

Bill Justice, a member of the Rotary Club, was one of the lead organizers of the event.

“The thing about a thing like this is it’s not just a clean-up. It helps draw the community together. There’s a lot of people that wouldn’t be seeing or talking to each other except for today,” Justice said. “I think this demonstrates just how special a town Vicksburg is.”

The clean-up was truly a community effort.

Multiple organizations were involved in the effort including the City of Vicksburg, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Vicksburg Community Services Department, The Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the Vicksburg Police Department, Rotary International and the Vicksburg Main Street Program among others.

When a bag was full, it was left along the route to be picked up by the Community Services Department.

Laura Beth Strickland, Executive Director of the Vicksburg Convention & Visitors Bureau, spoke about why her organization got involved in the project.

“It’s just part of the tourism mission,” she said. “We want it to look great when visitors get here. And so we’ve helped organize this for the last three years.”

She added that she was very pleased with the crowd that showed up to help.

“It’s a great event,” Strickland said. “Today there are so many people that want to come and just help beautify our town.”

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