Volunteers Needed Saturday for Spring Cleanup Downtown

People ready to roll up their sleeves and put a little polish on downtown Kirkland are being asked to turn out Saturday for “Clean Sweep,” a spring cleaning effort by the Kirkland Downtown Association.

The idea is to get the city’s downtown core spruced up in time for the summer crowds, so volunteers will be sweeping, weeding, removing moss and picking up litter.

“We’ve been doing this for at least 10 to 12 years, maybe longer,” said Penny Sweet, deputy mayor of Kirkland and co-owner of wine shop downtown. “The city has less and less money for downtown clean-up. This is recognition of that by us as businesses and the community.

“We weed, we rake, we pick up cigarette butts by the gazillion. It looks amazing. It also gets people off the sofa and outside meeting people and talking.”

In a few weeks, another effort will be mounted to pressure wash downtown sidewalks to remove accumulated moss.

Clean Sweep is a fun event, and a great way to meet neighbors and fellow Kirkland residents. Things to bring include work gloves, weeding tools, screwdrivers or narrow hoes to week cracks in the sidewalks, brooms, buckets and water bottles.

Volunteers will meet at McLeod Insurance, 111 Park Lane, at 9:30 a.m Saturday. The Grape Choice will provide lunch at noon.

Organizers need an idea of how much food to provide, so they area asking volunteers to RSVP to info@kirklanddowntown.org or 425-893-8766.