Volunteers throughout Santa Clarita showed up bright and early to participate in the city of Santa Clarita’s 31st Annual River Rally Clean-Up and Environmental Expo Saturday morning at the Newhall Community Center.
With the incentive of beautifying nature within the city, participants of all ages put on their closed-toe shoes, gloves and hats to place all of their trash collected in bright orange bags.
“This event couldn’t happen without our volunteers, so we really appreciate every single volunteer who comes out to help clean the riverbed, because without each and every one of them, this couldn’t have happened. So I just want to express appreciation for our volunteers,” said Haley Lawton, administrative analyst for the city and coordinator of the event. “This site in and of itself is easier in some aspects than sites where we don’t have access to water, so it’s nice that we can set our expo, people can use our restrooms and we can do the biologist training there. I think it makes for a really nice experience.”
Planning for the event started in January, and while Lawton reflected on the benefits of choosing this year’s location, there were other challenges to overcome.
“This location is unique because we’re right next to the railroad, so we have to get certain permissions. There’s also some private property within the riverbed. We have to get permissions for those different entities,” Lawton said. “We usually have hundreds of volunteers that make it out. We still have people trying to come in. This year, with the running water, SCV Water can do a water station. It really makes for a more convenient setup.”
Lawton described the morning as packed with energy.
“I would say all of our volunteers had great energy this morning when I was walking around. Everyone was excited, happy. It’s an early morning, but all of our volunteers were in good spirits and seemed happy and ready to go. You can’t ask for more than that,” Lawton said. “I’m happy. I think it turned out well — it was a smooth experience this year.”
Alice and Tom Renolds are among those who have been participating nearly every year for decades.
“We’ve been coming to the River Rally for maybe 15 years. We’ve been residents for 38 years. It’s always great to come out here. There are so many families and people and everybody helps each other out there. If someone’s trying to dig up something, somebody comes and helps. [Tom] has a hard time walking on rocks, and someone says, ‘Oh do you need some help?’ They’re really friendly, they all help each other,” Alice said.
The Renolds were the first in line, ready to take on the trash as a team. The Renolds also volunteer in other city events throughout the year, including the Cowboy Festival and the Evening of Remembrance.
“There was a lot of trash, but it was pretty small and hidden in the bushes. Didn’t incur any snakes or rattlesnakes. [Alice] was wandering in the bushes — she goes and grabs them, and I hold the bag. [Married] for 53 years, it’s a team,” Tom said.
“We got here right on the dot, and we were in the front of the line because if you don’t get in the front of the line, you don’t find the trash because everyone’s behind you. You’re leading and paving the way,” Alice added. “We live here and want to do things that help the city and make our community better. We’re both retired — our grandkids are grown up, we have free time, this is our city and we want to give back to it.”
