Billings, June 23, 2022
Bright n' Beautiful once again hosted the region's Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup this spring. As last year, we enjoyed a big Cleanup Day in Billings on Saturday, April 23. As luck would have it, we had to contend with freezing rain all day. Several dauntless teams could be seen on Billings Blvd., in Two Moon Park, at Yellowstone County Museum grounds and all along Minnesota Avenue downtown. Good thing we extended the Cleanup period through Mother’s Day, May 8, (and beyond into June, truth be told) so that everyone could get their neighborly efforts supported and reported to Keep America Beautiful. This year, some 65 different teams representing over 1800 individuals volunteered in Billings, Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, and Laurel, showing up to give our beautiful Yellowstone County home a good spring cleaning.
Bright n’ Beautiful was honored to partner again with JustServe.org as their Community Day of Service coincided nicely with our Billings Cleanup Day. Some of those efforts were postponed as well but, by the end of Cleanup season, beloved landmarks from Yellowstone Art Museum to Two Moon Park, from the Moss Mansion to the Canyon Creek Battlefield Historic site, got a well-deserved spruce up. The Billings Public Works Department again donated three enormous roll-off dumpsters for our use during Earth Day weekend at Castle Rock Park in the Heights, the Senior & Community Center downtown and, new this year, Shiloh United Methodist Church on the West End. Thank you all for kindly accommodated our mighty bright n' beautiful roll offs!
Here are some highlights of 2022 Great American Cleanup:
Billings Senior High shone with their ongoing ‘Keep Senior Beautiful.' 300+ students and staff cleaned campus, park, neighborhood and Moss Mansion grounds. Broncs filled 82 33-gallon bags with litter!
Billings Central Catholic High School, Sky View High, and West High all staged wonderful campus cleanups with hundreds of students and teachers participating during the busiest time of their year. Thanks, teens!
155 Laurel volunteers worked for two days doing away with 121 litter bags and 18 trailer loads of old appliances and debris
RMC’s River Research Institute volunteers recycled 760 lbs. of metal, 1780 lbs. of trash, and 24 car, truck and tractor tires out of our beloved river.
Keep the spirit of Great American Cleanup all year long! If you’d like to tackle litter anytime in Yellowstone County, we'll help with free supplies and the loan of gear. We'll get the word out if you want new friends to join you in your efforts. Call Bright n’ Beautiful at 406-248-6617, email brightnbeautifulbillings@gmail.com, or visit www.bnbyc.org. Have some fun making Yellowstone County bright and beautiful all year long!