As part of the Alice Ferguson Foundation Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, this year, nearly 30 participants from the Gangplank Marina and all over Southwest Washington, DC united to clean up the waterfront. The neighborhood clean-up effort was well-timed, coming on the heels of the Cherry Blossom Festival and right before the start of the annual Cherry Blossom Run. These two events are times when the Waterfront is at its busiest. The clean-up showed the neighborhood’s many visitors not only how beautiful its trees and landscaping are, but also how aesthetically pleasing the street-scape and the water-scape are along the Washington Channel.
The group picked trash up from the 14th Street bridge, NW, all the way down to the Gangplank Marina parking lot, located at 6th Street SW. A whopping total of 55 bags of trash were collected by the energetic group of volunteers, who were in lighthearted spirits throughout the event. What was both the biggest and smallest contributor to those 55 trash bags? Drum roll please… cigarette butts! The difference was immediately visible as pedestrians walked down to the waterfront between the Maine Ave. fish market and the Tidal Basin, many of whom thanked the group for their efforts.
The businesses along the clean up path included the Channel Inn, Zanzibar, Hogates, Phillips, Jenny’s, Capitol Yacht Club, Seafood Market and Washington Marina boating store. Hats off to Washington Marina for granting their dumpster space for the deposit of all the trash collected during the successful event. Also, special thanks to the Alice Ferguson Foundation, who graciously supplied the volunteers with the much-needed gloves and trash bags which were essential to making the event such a success.
The Alice Ferguson Waterfront Clean-is quickly becoming an annual tradition for the Gangplank Marina Slipholder’s Association (GPSA), a neighborhood organization from the boater’s community at the Gangplank Marina, who organized the group of volunteers for the event. In addition to the GPSA’s participation in this effort, its community is also proud to reside in a “Green Marina.” The GPSA’s greening – and blueing – efforts along the waterfront also included a tree-planting event in November of 2009, hosting a Community-Supported Agriculture family farm drop-off site in 2010, and clean boating educational programs throughout the year.