What started as a community project after frustrations over garbage and trash at the dam area in Dell Rapids has led to an annual event.  The “4th Annual River Cleanup Day” was held on Saturday, May 22nd

Kiley Stone organized the annual event in 2018 and has asked the community to join in the cleanup day to keep the local parks of Dell Rapids clean over the last four years.  This year’s event brought 10 volunteers to help clean up different areas around the river.

“This year I went to look at the areas along the river that needed cleanup the most. To my delight, the area by the dam that we’ve done every year since starting was almost completely litter free. Most of this is due to the construction of the bike path, but it still shows that the yearly cleanup seems to be working!” said Stone.  “We decided to expand to different areas, so we started at the tail end of the Rock Run stream and headed south. We covered the areas along the bike path starting at the 115 bridge all the way over to the pedestrian bridge. Again, there was not a lot of trash to be found until we ended up at the trail that cuts down along the river from the pedestrian bridge west to the highway. We came across a huge tarp that has been there for years. A few of the volunteers worked on removing that for quite some time.”

Stone also issued a huge thank you to everyone that volunteered and helped spread the word!

Frustrations over garbage and trash at the dam area have lead a Dell Rapids resident to schedule the first River Clean-up Day.  Kiley Stone, owner of Stone Photography, couldn’t stop thinking about how sad it was that an area so beautiful is being damaged with garbage and litter.

“Growing up I never really knew the area by the dam existed. When I started getting into photography, I started exploring all the areas of town I was unfamiliar with.  The area by the dam is my favorite.  It is  a beautiful area and there is a lot of ground to walk around and explore.  I have continued, year after year, to watch this area get trashed and damaged.  When I take customers there, I am always having to tell them to watch out for all the glass or we cannot use this spot because it’s littered with trash,” Stone said.

Rather than complaining about the situation, Stone has organized a “River Clean-up Day” for Saturday, October 14th, starting at 8:00 a.m.  A Facebook event posted by Stone as already gotten great response from many in the community that want to help.  The event has also received support from the City of Dell Rapids.

“The City of Dell Rapids said they would provide the trash bags and bring a couple of dumpsters down to throw all the bags into,” Stone said.  “Since this is the first time, I am not sure how much ground we will cover, but I hope to cleanup all along the river from Highway 115 west to the trestle. If it works out great and I get a good response, I hope to keep this as an annual event and circle around to different areas of town each year.”

More information about the event can be found on the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/116784005657149/.  Stone can also be contacted at 605-254-6913 or at kiley1979@hotmail.com.