THE AFTERMATH
St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2019
Newport, Rhode Island
For the first time since I can remember, I went to a parade. Not just any parade either, THE Newport St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Rhode Island. This wasn’t like any parade I had gone to growing up, it was crazy- for better and for worse.
There were thousands and thousands of people that lined the streets decked out in their finest green attire and beaded necklaces. The beers were flowing, the bagpipes were singing, and the sirens were blaring. In the midst of all of this, I couldn’t help but notice one major issue: the trash.
Water bottles, plastic bead necklaces, food wrappers, and business flyers all strewn about the street. Not to mention the overflowing trash barrels that people just kept adding to until they looked like heaping piles of junk. I began to imagine what the aftermath of this massive parade would look like.
I’m here to tell you that it wasn’t exactly pretty. If you’re familiar with Newport, you know it’s a coastal community. With a good enough arm, you could literally throw a rock from the parade to the ocean. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the litter knowing that all it would take was one decent wind gust to move the litter closer to the ocean. It’s hard to put that overwhelming feeling into words, so here’s a picture to catch you up to speed:
Um, can you say problematic? This is not sustainable, this is pretty disheartening.
Although we’ve got a long way to go, there is hope for this situation. There are definitely things we can do as a community to be better at these parades next time around. Let’s touch on the basics:
Bring your own reusable water bottle and straw.
Avoid prepackaged snacks.
Use the provided trash receptacles.
Hang on to the plastic beaded necklaces, trinkets, glasses, etc. for future years. Don’t just toss them and purchase a new plastic blinking necklace next year because “it’s only a dollar”. Or, simply avoid purchasing these single-use items all together.
If you must indulge in Parade Day shots on the street…please ditch the Fireball nips, purchase a stainless steel flask and a full-size glass liquor bottle. Fill your flask at home, and leave the remaining liquor at home. We collected 100 nips off the streets.
If you are a cigarette smoker, please, I beg you, please make sure when you are through with your cigarette that it is no longer lit, and dispose of it somewhere other than our streets. Birds and small animals can mistake discarded cigarettes for food.
There is also something very important that you can do to assist in the parade day trash problem: GET INVOLVED IN A COMMUNITY CLEAN-UP. Talk to the locals or do a Google search, find a local clean-up effort, and go get your hands dirty. If you don’t want to go alone, round up a few friends and just show up!
Did you know that these clean-up efforts are usually only 2 hours long? Even if you can only commit to one hour, that is still amazing.
This year, I had the pleasure of joining the Brick Alley Pub for their 9th Annual Post-Parade Day Clean-Up. My other half, Brett, joined me and together we filled three huge trash bags in an hour and fifteen minutes. That is a lot of trash! After striking up conversations with the clean-up hosts, I was excited to find out that nearly 40 volunteers had come out to join forces for this years event. In the past, there have only been about 20 volunteers- that’s a huge increase and a definite sign of awareness! Volunteering is such a great way to get outdoors, be active, meet awesome people, and do great things for your community.
Do good, feel good.
P.S.- You never know what could happen after a clean-up... I ended up engaged to the love of my life 💍
Cheers!
