Old Town Undergoes Spring Cleaning

Sunday, April 27, 2008

By AILEEN STRENG, Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger
Published: April 27, 2008

Esther Caesar of Manassas brought her daughter and two of her school friends to Old Town on Saturday hoping they would learn something at an earth-friendly event.

And they did.

Caesar's daughter, Binette Wadda, 7, and sisters Nasreen Mohamed, 11, and Besma Mohamed, 9, said they knew more about what kind of items can be recycled such as plastic, paper, cans and metal. "I want them to be more knowledgeable about the environment," Caesar said. "They will learn more as the day goes by."

The group was among a steady stream of visitors to Old Town Manassas who came out for the city's first Spring Cleaning Day, sponsored by Historic Manassas Inc.

The area around the Loy E. Harris Pavilion and the train depot was lined with recycling and environmental exhibi-tors in honor of Earth Day, which was celebrated last week.

Among those exhibitors was the City of Manassas Trash and Recycling Department, which had recycling bins and "going green" information.

Habitat for Humanity collected new and used tools and building materials. The Manassas Host Lioness Lions col-lected eyeglasses, hearing aids, cell phones, inkjet cartridges, DVDs, MP3 players and digital cameras.

The Prince William Auxiliary Thrift collected used clothing and household items.

It was the opportunity to recycle that brought Chantel Hodge and her 1-year-old daughter, Cadence, of Gainesville to the event.

"I had been spring cleaning and had some old clothes I wanted to recycle," Hodge said. "This was convenient and fun."

Along with the recycling, there was entertainment, a moon bounce set up on the grounds of the Manassas Museum, and children's rides and crafts, as well as an educational production by the Blue Sky Puppet Theatre that taught the basics of energy and national resource conservation. The Manassas Farmers Market was open and nearby, fitting in nicely with the Earth Day theme.

The most popular attraction of the day, however, was the free bicycle rickshaw rides around Old Town, said Steve Urry, marketing and events coordinator for Historic Manassas.

"Everybody is just blown away by them," he said.

Urry estimated that the event would likely draw about 5,000 visitors to downtown Manassas, which is exactly what Historic Manassas had hoped would occur.

The goal of the non-profit is to promote and preserve Old Town Manassas. Among the ways this is done is by orga-nizing events that will put more "feet on the street," Urry said.

The idea for the Spring Cleaning Day event originated with the Old Town merchants' annual sidewalk sale.

"It never got a lot of traffic," Urry said. "So, we decided to turn it into a Spring Cleaning Day—as in the merchants are spring cleaning their stores with their sidewalk sales.

"The idea just took off from there," said Urry, who is already making plans for next year's event.