Oak Park residents can grab trash bags and litter pickers Saturday, August 1, as the Village Clerk's Office continues its monthly Neighborhood Clean-Up rotation through village blocks.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The specific neighborhood has not been posted publicly, but residents can find the location and sign up at oak-park.us/cleanupdays26.

Village Clerk Christina Waters organizes the program through her office as part of Keep Oak Park Beautiful, an extension of the national Keep America Beautiful initiative. The clean-ups happen the first Saturday of every month from April through October, each time targeting a different stretch of Oak Park.

Supplies are provided. The Village supplies black plastic bags for garbage, clear bags for recyclables, litter pickers, gloves, and pink refuse stickers. Brooms and shovels are picked up from the organizer's location the Monday after each event, according to the Village's program page.

What the program has done so far

The April clean-up drew 25 volunteers who picked up litter along Madison Street from Lombard Avenue to Home Avenue, hauling away 200 pounds of garbage, according to the Wednesday Journal.

Tom Northey, an Oak Park resident described as a driving force behind Keep Oak Park Beautiful, explained his philosophy in the Wednesday Journal's April 29 report: "Take care of the little stuff and it will take care of the big stuff. Everybody is looking to solve big issues, but what if we solved the little things?"

Waters told the Wednesday Journal on April 29 that the program brings people together across political lines. "We don't have to talk about politics, we're there for a common goal," she said.

The clean-ups are not limited to the monthly Saturday events. A group of local Girl Scouts organized a separate effort on Sunday, April 12, and collected 15 pounds of trash in one hour, Waters noted in the same report.

How to participate

Residents can register for the August 1 event at oak-park.us/cleanupdays26. The Village's official account on X announced the date on Tuesday, July 28. Volunteers are encouraged to share photos using the hashtag #oakparkcleanup.

Based on the program's first-Saturday schedule, the next event after August would fall on Saturday, September 5.