The McComb Beautification Committee is hosting a city-wide clean-up and block party to encourage residents of McComb to take pride in the city and participate in a litter-free initiative.
The event will kick off with registration at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Bo Diddley Pavillion, continuing with the city clean-up from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a block party from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“We’ve had litter pickup days through Keep Pike County Beautiful, but this is more of a celebration and we really are zeroing in right here in McComb and to rejoice on who we are and what we can do when we pull together,” said Libba Alford, who leads the McComb Beautification Committee.
Rochelle Foster, another organizer, said the committee is also starting a positive campaign called “Small Town, Big Dreams,” aiming to bring community members together through their visions and dreams for the city.
“I think the beauty of this is that there are a lot of people coming, it appears many churches have joined the movement and many different businesses have said they’ll be there to support us,” she said. “So I think it’s very needed for our city and there are many wonderful things going on in our city that are not being highlighted and so hopefully something like this will.”
From 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., people can sign up to be on clean teams and areas of the city will be color-coded, with a goal of getting the entire city cleaned, Foster said.
“We’ve tried to get as many community groups to come alongside and several youth groups are bringing people to help cover the whole city’s litter-free initiative,” Foster said.
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley encouraged the McComb Exchange Club on Thursday to attend the event and help clean up the city.
Waste Management is providing a dumpster and color-coded trash bags so the clean teams can compete to see which team picks up the most litter.
“On March 31st, we have to report the numbers to Keep Pike County Beautiful because they have to report numbers of how much trash was cleaned up,” Foster said. “It’s significant we all help on this particular day because the 31st is an important day for the Keep America Beautiful initiative.”
After clean-up, community members can get lunch from the food vendors available, such as Vine Brothers BBQ, one of the event’s sponsors. A number of activities are also available for kids, including crafts such as face painting and rock painting.
“We’ve got Mr. Sipp as our headliner, so we’re trying to use some entertainment that’s local and really good,” Foster said. “JPAC will be performing as well as the Well Worship team and Jasmine Sargent and we’ll have speakers throughout the day to share their dreams about the city, so the message is ‘I have a dream.’”
Alford added that thanks to the climate in Southwest Mississippi, McComb has “some of the most gorgeous landscape and sometimes we treat it like trash.”
“Right now, we look like we don’t care, and we’ve got to change that image,” she said.
