By June Schmidt, TME staff

In case you missed it, about 50 of your friends and neighbors gathered together Saturday, Aug. 22 to make a difference in the appearance of the business section of Frazier Park.

Did they succeed? Take a drive along Monterey Trail and Mt. Pinos Way to see for yourself.

What was the best part of the Community Cleanup Day? The camaraderie and unanimous sense of accomplishment won high praise from all who participated.

Cleanup Days have become popular, from the Coastal Commission’s event all along the California coast coming up in September, to Santa Barbara’s successful downtown Cleanup Day last July. The Frazier Park Cleanup Day was organized by the office of Kern County Supervisor David Couch.

At 9 a.m. Saturday the supervisor, field representative Ryan Shultz and Aurora Rush of the Kern County Waste Management Department met with volunteers to hand out supplies and go over safety tips. Volunteers were divided into five teams, given gloves, heavy-duty trash bags and safety vests. Teams were assigned specific areas to clean.

My Team One included Diana Andrews, Shelley and Lance Borgstrom, Cathy Vlach and the Franti family from Piñon Pines (Terry, Kelly, Finn and Tate).

Everyone was hard at work until 11 a.m.

The pile of trash bags in the dumpster was impressive.

While the cleanup in town was underway, another resident, Grantley Vaughn, single-handedly took care of a large debris pile within the Los Padres National Forest off West Tecuya, north of Cuddy Valley.

Grantley had stopped by the park early to pick up trash bags then headed out. The refuse left at an abandoned homeless encampment filled the bed of his pick-up truck.

His deposits went into the roll-off dumpster at The Mountain Enterprise parking lot.

We all met over at Caveman Cavey’s for a well-earned lunch. Jerry Parker, of Your T-shirt Man, handed out free “I Was There” event T-shirts and the conversation flowed.

Community spirit was high. Dave Reiner circulated a sign-up sheet for those interested in forming a CERT group in Frazier Park.

Terry and Kelly Franti told how sons Finn and Tate had commented, after clearing up the mass of weeds along the west side of the old service station, “It feels good to help out.”

Others talked about what we can do to make this task easier and more efficient next time—oh yes, there will be a next time!

During the orientation, Supvr. Couch also thanked business sponsors, including Antioch Nursery (trailer and personnel to haul off the collected trash), Mountainside Disposal (dumpster), Fastenal (water), Your T-shirt Man (event t-shirts), National Cement (pizza at Caveman Cavey’s) and the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce for assistance in organizing the event. The Mountain Enterprise provided the use of its parking lot for the roll-away dumpster.

Photo captions:

Why are all these people here? And what are they about to do?

Debbie Turner and her team filled up the trash bags.

The Franti family, (l-r: Finn, Kelly, Tate and Terry) cleaned out the area next to the old service station on Mt. Pinos Way.

(l-r) Ruth Terrell and Christy Gomez with Emily Gomez at Caveman Cavey’s showing off the t-shirt given to all participants.

Volunteers working at Mt. Pinos Way and Los Padres Drive.

National Cement bought pizza for everyone at Cavey’s afterward.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access! Just call 661-245-3794.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition

(subscriber login required)

This is part of the August 28, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.