The old saying “a good deed goes a long way” was put into practice at the 21st annual Ed Gregor Clean Up, as nearly 150 volunteers came together on Saturday to do some good for the community.
People gathered from all over Southern Alberta to clean up the area in loving memory of Ed Gregor, a man who worked in forestry and who passed away two decades ago. This stewardship day is the longest of its kind in Canada.
After kicking off the day with a breakfast provided by the Coleman Lions Club, who made the breakfast for the past 21 years. With full bellies, the volunteers were hard at work by 8:30 a.m., each separated into groups to tackle different projects around the area. The day ended at 4:30 pm when participants ate burgers and beans cooked by the Blairmore Lions.
One of the project s was cleaning of garbage in the Adanac area by Hillcrest Fish and Game members and partners from BearSmart . According to Brian Vanderlinden, “We did the Adanac Road, behind the water tower in Hillcrest, just over from Wakaluk’s shop near the east end of Bellevue.” The group ended up with seven truckloads. “We found six household stoves”, noted Vanderlinden. Two construction size garbage bins were on site for the clean-up. According to Johnson one was filled with metal and one with garbage.
“It’s the most garbage we have seen in a few years”.
The local First Crowsnest Scouts group also took part in the stewardship day, working in conjunction with their program, ScouTrees, planting 2000 trees up the Atlas Road north of the Atlas Staging Area. The trees were donated by Teck and the planting toos were supplied by the Landfill Association
UROC did some work on the mountain bike trails with signage on the Pass Powderkeg Ski Hill.
Another volunteer group was busy with trail and step repair at the Flummerfelt Park in Coleman .
At Beaver Mines Lake volunteers worked on the trail up to Table Mountain while another group at the Beaver Mines Campground worked on the Interpretive Trail and put in three foot bridges.

The ‘Lethbridge Coulle Cruisers’, the jeep club from Lethbridge, were out as part of the clean up crew using their jeeps to haul the garbage.
Quad Squad did a clean up at the South Snowmobile Shelter at Castle.
“It was phenomenal,” said Darryl Johnson, Regional Resources and soon to be retired Manager, with Environment and Parks. “I have never seen a group of individuals work so hard on a project.”
“This is my last Stewardship Day as a government representative and what a way to go out in style.”
Volunteers came from all over Southern Alberta to help clean up, people from Pincher Creek, Lethbridge, Spring Bank and Calgary participated. When asked who was new to the Ed Gregor cleanup, 34 people announced themselves, a number that was surprisingly high to organizers.
At the windup barbecue gifts were given to the volunteers, including one for oldest volunteer, most unique piece of garbage and volunteer from the farthest destination. Oldest volunteer was 75 years old. Most unique piece of garbage AM Radio from a 1940 vintage truck and the farthest participant was from Springbank.
According to Johnson, “We anticipate once the numbers are in we will be over 200 volunteers, as some people just showed at the project sites”.
John Barlow our local MP was in attendance at the event.
“At the end of the day, the volunteers were already asking about next year and what the upcoming projects would be. It was a great day, with great people.”
“It was a great day, with even greater people.”