Best Holiday of the Year: Green Up Day 2020 in Hanover, New Hampshire

According to Wikipedia:

Green Up Day, observed annually on the first Saturday of May, is a statewide effort in the US state of Vermont to clean up roadside trash.

I grew up in the town of Hanover, NH, just across the river from Vermont. As a child, observing Green Up day and cleaning up our neighborhood was an annual tradition. In fact, Green Up Day is my favorite holiday of the year.

I am thrilled to announce that, for the first time in over a decade, I was able to observe the holiday along with @jhimmel, @hirschey, and @trang (each a 25% beneficiary of this post). Together we filled up 4 large bags:

The treasures of our cleanup efforts pictured in front of the Connecticut River along River Road in Lyme, NH. The town comes around and picks up the blue trash bags.

Collecting all the trash was not an easy task.

@jhimmel goes deep into a patch of Japanese Honeysuckle to pick up plastic litter.

Of particular interest in the treasures we collected, there were antique beer cans including a Keystone Light can with legacy print and a Budweiser can whose red coloring had faded to yellow. @trang even found a full Budweiser Light. Refreshing! @hirschey's most memorable find was a chopped liver container. Rare!

We found about 30 empty glass bottles of just Beck's Beer. There were also a large number Arizona Iced Tea cans. We suspect there are one or two serial litterers who routinely drive that stretch of road. Perhaps next year we can follow the litter trail to where it stops to uncover the offender and ask them politely to improve their disregard for this beautiful northern land.

Now that I'm back living in New Hampshire in the spring, it felt great to celebrate this holiday once more. To clean off, I took my quick dip in the river:

First swim of the year in the Connecticut River

It was hard to find any details online this year due to COVID-19. I emailed the Town of Hanover's Park & Rec office, who provided me with the following flyer:

Hanover Parks & Rec Green Up Day 2020 Flyer

Here's the text from the flyer, so this post goes viral with SEO:

GREEN UP DAY May 1^ST - 15^TH

Please help keep our community clean and join us in Green Up Day while you're out for a walk and practicing safe social distancing, your neighborhood or local trail.

Pick up your blue (Green Up Day) bags at the following locations: Hanover Department of Public Works, Etna Post Office, or RWB Community Center.

Blue bag collection sites: Bags can be left alongside the road where you cleaned up and Town staff will pick them up as they are out and about.

Due to COVID-19 we will not be able to hold the annual Green Up Day cookout.

Sponsored by Hanover Improvement Society, Mascoma Bank, and The Town of Hanover