(Fanwood, NJ) – A rainy and cold Saturday morning did not stop dozens of volunteers from taking part in the 37th annual Fanwood Clean Community Day.

Volunteers started gathering at the Southside Train Station parking lot at 8:30 a.m. Earth Day T-shirts were given out along with work gloves, pick-up devises, and biodegradable bags to pick up litter around town. Coffee was available along with sandwiches provided by The Bagel Café. A ticket for a free pizza slice were also provided to each participant, courtesy of Fabio’s Bistro.

Volunteers gather at the start of the Clean Community Day program.

Mayor Colleen Mahr gave a brief welcome to volunteers, announcing the event would start earlier than the typical 9 am kickoff to get a jump on rain that began around 9:20 am.

Mayor Colleen Mahr welcomes volunteers.

“This is our 37th year that we have come together to pick-up garbage, to be around our fellow community members and to really make a statement of what our community means and how we want our community to be seen,” Mayor Mahr said.

Public Works Director Clint Dicksen invited volunteers to break off into groups to begin the cleanup, each led by a DPW staff member, to remove trash from public areas of the Borough including North Avenue and the areas around the Train Station south and north side parking areas, municipal parking areas, La Grande Park, Midway Avenue, and the Fanwood Nature Center, and the brook on the Scotch Plains border off of Farley Avenue. Members of the Environmental Commission helped clean up the section of the brook that runs through the Nature Center.

Director of Public Works Click Dicksen welcomes volunteers.

NJ Transit provided flagmen provided security for those collecting trash near the train tracks.

Picking up litter along on the side of the railroad tracks at the Fanwood Train Station.

Grant money for the event was made available for the event through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Volunteers gather at the start of the Clean Community Day program.

Clean Community Day volunteer with her trash bag.

Ed Cologna videotapes the program for TV 35.

The Fanwood Green Team.

Leslie Krone-Speck, chair of the Environmental Commission, with a bag of trash at the Nature Center.

Leslie Krone-Speck, chair of the Environmental Commission, removes litter from the brook at the Fanwood Nature Center.

Looking for litter at LaGrande Park.

Mayor Colleen Mahr with a group of young Clean Community Day volunteers.

Olivia Haas of the Environmental Commission, with a bag full of trash from the Fanwood Nature Center.

Councilman Patricia Walsh with the DPW crew of Jimmy Yannazzno, Donovan Garrett, Andy Baldasarre, and Tony Marques.

Picking up Earth Day shirts.

Picking up litter in the LaGrande Park Pavilion.

Picking up litter along Midway Avenue.