Nacogdoches celebrates National Trails Day with community cleanup

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - The City of Nacogdoches invited the community to clean the city’s walkways on Saturday to celebrate National Trails Day.

Volunteers came out ahead of the rain to pick up trash at the Shofner and Lanana Creek Trail, where the park’s annual Running of the Blueberries event will be held next weekend.

“People care, people are out here and ready to go,” Joy Palmer, recreation supervisor for the City of Nacogdoches, said.

Palmer said the volunteer turnout shows that people care about the community and will help prepare for the race.

This year, all proceeds from the Running of the Blueberries are going back into the trail to fix damage from a flood.

“The proceeds are going toward the trail so we can potentially make the trails more beautiful, but also so that we can start working toward fixing that one area,” Palmer said.

Palmer said having volunteers willing to help make everything look beautiful is great for all the people who are utilizing the trail.

Mitzi Hester volunteered with her company, Excel ER, today.

She said cleaning the trails holds a special place in her heart.

“The trails to me are kind of near and dear to my heart because this is where my kids and I came for years, for 30 years I’ve brought my kids out to walk these trails, so it’s special to me that they stay nice,” Hester said.

Tammy Padilla, her co-worker, said keeping the trails clean is important for families and shared why she came out today.

“If you wanted your family to walk the trails, you wouldn’t want to walk up on nasty stuff, so it’s important that someone keeps it up,” Padilla said.

Carrie and Lindsey Garza also came out to make a difference.

“We like to participate in community service stuff, and here we are. Got to clean up the planet, got to start with the trails,” Carrie Garza said.

Garza said there wasn’t too much trash, which was a great sign.

“I feel good I’m really happy about it. The fact that there isn’t a lot of trash says a lot of Nacogdoches,” she said.

Lindsey Garza said the cleanup was a lot of fun, which hopefully encourages more people to come out and clean the trails.

“I don’t have a favorite part. I like all of it,” she said.

Nacogdoches Parks and Recreation said Running of the Blueberries registration is still open, and it is also looking for volunteers to help with the race.