“Our goal with the Lemont River Sweep project, which is part of Illinois River Sweep, is to clean up one of the treasures of Lemont,” said Sue Murphy, Lemont event chairwoman. “Plus it’s fun to draw people to one of the great resources in our community.”

Murphy, who has spearheaded an annual half-day cleanup along the Lemont portion of Illinois and Michigan, or I&M, Canal, said for a number of years, residents have cleaned areas as part of Lemont’s Earth Week events in April and again as part of River Sweep in September. This year, the service day will run from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 20. Registration will be at 8:30 a.m. at the Heritage Quarries Pavilion next to the parking lot off of KA Steel Road.

“It makes a huge difference in the atmosphere of the area,” she said. “Because of the community effort, the I&M Canal in Lemont has really evolved into a great place to come and ride a bike with your family or just to take a walk.”

Explaining the creation of Illinois River Sweep, Murphy said, “With ecotourism becoming a trend toward the end of the 1900s, Illinois began to recognize how abused and how important the Illinois River was. So to increase awareness of the Illinois River and it tributaries, the lieutenant governor started the Illinois River Sweep.”

Now, the Illinois River Sweep is run by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and sponsored by Friends of the Illinois River.

Asking for volunteers, Murphy said, “In the past we have had lots of residents and Scout groups come to help, and this year the Lemont High School Club Community Service for Everyone is taking an active role.”

“We’ve had students participate in past years, too,” said Carol Nenne, CSFE sponsor. “We do a lot of different kinds of community service, but this is one of those I like because it’s nice to have that environmental push.

“The students also enjoy doing it because it’s one thing they do that, at the end of the day, they can see they have made an immediate difference in their community,” she said.

“We always need more help, and we welcome participation from everyone,” Murphy said. “But, remember that although our Heritage Quarries are the treasure of Lemont, they still haven’t found a way to get rid of the mosquitoes. Everyone should put on bug spray and bring a bottle of water for themselves.”

Each participant will receive an Illinois River Sweep T-shirt, gloves and a garbage bag. For more information, call Murphy at (630) 257-2821.