Lockpick guide? Bob Ross Chia Pet head? Prepare for the unexpected at community cleanup
The Manchester Urban Ponds Restoration Program has coordinated 120 volunteer cleanups at the city’s urban ponds since 2000. Other groups have coordinated 14 more. The 134 cleanups mean that 1,390 volunteers have spent about 4,327 hours collecting 2,893 bags of trash. This is in addition to larger du
MANCHESTER, NH – A guide to lockpicking. A Hula Hoop. Tiki torches. Two loveseats. Cat slippers. A Bob Ross Chia Pet head.
Items for a get-together for chill criminals? Sure. But these are also among the hundreds of items that have been found during a quarter-century of annual spring pond and park cleanups in the city.
Anyone who finds something just as interesting, or even more interesting, may win an award during this year’s Manchester Urban Ponds Restoration Program Spring 2025 Pond and Park Cleanups.
This year’s cleanups are:
- Saturday, April 19: 9-11 a.m., Nutts Pond/Precourt Park (Driving Park Road). Volunteers should meet at the kiosk.
- Saturday, April 26: 9-11 a.m., Black Brook/Blodget Park (Front Street and Dunbarton Road). Volunteers should meet in the parking lot.
- Saturday, May 3: 9-11 a.m., Wolfe Park/McQuesten Brook (Harvel Street). Volunteers should meet at the kiosk in the parking lot.
The Manchester Urban Ponds Restoration Program has coordinated 120 volunteer cleanups at the city’s urban ponds since 2000. Other groups have coordinated 14 more. The 134 cleanups mean that 1,390 volunteers have spent about 4,327 hours collecting 2,893 bags of trash. This is in addition to larger dumped items like shopping carts (117), tires (464), car batteries, other car parts, construction debris, and more, according to a news release from the program.
Last year’s three cleanups drew a total of 119 volunteers who collected 138 bags of trash, along with five tires, four shopping carts, four wooden pallets, two area rugs, a plastic wagon, a plastic cooler, a giant metal fuel storage tank, a laundry basket, a large green tarp, a vehicular muffler, a space heater, a mattress, a plastic chair, a metal futon frame, wood dresser drawers, and lots of wood, cardboard and construction debris.
First, second and third-place awards for Most Interesting or Most Unusual Item of Trash, judged by the coordinator at the end of cleanup, last year weighed heavily toward figurines and dolls, but also a multi-colored wig, a stuffed owl ghost, koala bear picture, rock full of rock people, a Santa head and a sock that says “Show Mommy How the Piggy’s Eat. Oink. Oink. Oink.”
Aside from the usual debris, car parts, mattresses and appliances, other items found over the years include a kayak, cash registers (that’s plural), a large variety of stuffed animals, a police department evidence bag (empty, let’s hope), a spinet piano, and dozens more. MUPRP tallies items found during the volunteer cleanups on its website.
Any volunteers – groups and individuals – can join in. Latex gloves and trash bags are provided at the site, and there’s an in-depth information sheet online for volunteers or people who want to coordinate a group activity around the event.
Cleanups are held rain or shine and volunteers are advised to dress for the weather, as well as wearing boots (rubber knee boots if you have them), since it’s likely to be wet and muddy.
