Thousands of people came to downtown Franklin Saturday to enjoy the holiday festivities that culminated in a parade, the official holiday light up of the town and a pretty impressive fireworks display.
Most seemed to take away a great memory, but some, unfortunately, didn't take away their trash.
Usually after a parade a fair amount of flattened candy is on the road. That's collateral damage for the fun of giving out bushels of small individually wrapped treats along the parade route. But after Saturday's electric light spectacular it seemed that a fair amount of the wrappers on the ground were without treats. Simply disregarded after the candy was consumed. Why can't people pick up after themselves?
Franklin is a very unique small town. There is a fairly large contingency of people who do an immensely large amount of planning to make sure residents, businesses and visitors have a lot of things to do all year round. Is it really too much to ask those taking advantage of all the hard work put in by staff and volunteers to not leave the place looking like crap?
Strolling around Saturday night after the fireworks, I was pretty taken aback by all the trash left behind. I was all the way up Liberty to where the parade ended. It was in the road, on the sidewalks and throughout the grass. It was candy wrappers, hot chocolate and coffee cups, water and soda bottles and even a pair of ear muffs.
Sometimes there was a even a garbage can nearby but admittedly there were sections without anywhere to easily dispose of trash.
Franklin's public works crews did a great job of cleaning up most of the litter left in the street. But on Monday morning there was still a noticeable amount of refuse scattered about the grass, especially near the intersection of Liberty and 12th streets.
The Scouts of America had a saying "Leave No Trace." It means whatever you take in, you take out, specifically garbage.
Perhaps the city can work to put out more garbage cans next time around and that will help. But even if they can't, attendees should respect the festival, event volunteers and city workers, and take their garbage with them if needed.
Most seemed to take away a great memory, but some, unfortunately, didn't take away their trash.
Usually after a parade a fair amount of flattened candy is on the road. That's collateral damage for the fun of giving out bushels of small individually wrapped treats along the parade route. But after Saturday's electric light spectacular it seemed that a fair amount of the wrappers on the ground were without treats. Simply disregarded after the candy was consumed. Why can't people pick up after themselves?
Franklin is a very unique small town. There is a fairly large contingency of people who do an immensely large amount of planning to make sure residents, businesses and visitors have a lot of things to do all year round. Is it really too much to ask those taking advantage of all the hard work put in by staff and volunteers to not leave the place looking like crap?
Strolling around Saturday night after the fireworks, I was pretty taken aback by all the trash left behind. I was all the way up Liberty to where the parade ended. It was in the road, on the sidewalks and throughout the grass. It was candy wrappers, hot chocolate and coffee cups, water and soda bottles and even a pair of ear muffs.
Sometimes there was a even a garbage can nearby but admittedly there were sections without anywhere to easily dispose of trash.
Franklin's public works crews did a great job of cleaning up most of the litter left in the street. But on Monday morning there was still a noticeable amount of refuse scattered about the grass, especially near the intersection of Liberty and 12th streets.
The Scouts of America had a saying "Leave No Trace." It means whatever you take in, you take out, specifically garbage.
Perhaps the city can work to put out more garbage cans next time around and that will help. But even if they can't, attendees should respect the festival, event volunteers and city workers, and take their garbage with them if needed.
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