Cleaning up Jacksonville: More than 100 people help rid Cathedral District of litter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Downtown Jacksonville is getting a little help from neighbors to look its best.

110 volunteers helped beautify the 36 blocks that make up the Cathedral District on Saturday as part of a community cleanup.

“They’re from Bartram Trail, from the southside, from inside the district,” said Linda Crofton, Director of Community Development for the Cathedral District.

“And I even talked to someone that’s here from France!” That would be Arthur Bagourd, who’s been here since 2015. “Jacksonville is growing on me,” he said.

Bagourd spent more than an hour combing through a small grassy area in Main Street Park.

“I’m more of a giver and I need to give something back to the community, because even if we say that downtown Jacksonville is not the most attractive, if we don’t do anything about it, then it’s never going to change,” he explained.

This event is a partnership between the Downtown Investment Authority, Downtown Vision, the Downtown Dwellers, Daily’s, The Cathedral District and 904 Happy Hour.

They get together every couple of months to clean up different areas of Jacksonville, with the goal of making the city a better place to live and visit.

“Love it. It just shows the community wants to better our city and help grow it,” said Charles Wagoner, Event Producer for 904 Happy Hour, a company that plans events throughout North Florida.

Bagourd hopes everyone thinks twice about dumping anything else.

“Eventually a fish or shark or whatever is going to eat some of this,” he said, as he pointed out everything that ends up in storm drains.

“And then it’s going back to our system,” he added. “You don’t want to eat plastic, so why would you just dump it on the street?”

To find out how to be a part of the next community cleanup, you can follow 904 Happy Hour’s events here.

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