By Landry Brewer

Elk City, OK – Shooting fireworks July 4th at Ackley Park is a lot of fun, but it leaves a big mess.

Somebody has to clean that mess.

About 100 City employees spent the morning of July 5 gathering spent fireworks and other trash left by Independence Day revelers.

Convention Center Director Julie Brewer and her daughter Ainsley, who works at Carnegie Library, were two of the wonderful 100 who reported for duty early on Saturday morning.

"The cleanup wasn't so bad when you have all employees present," Julie said.  "It's easier to pitch in knowing we're all there to make the park pretty again.

Ainsley agreed.

"I'm glad I did my part to help out our Parks Department as well as help beautify our park," Ainsley said.  "We have many City employees that work really hard, especially our Parks Department, so helping them was something we could all pitch in and do together." 

The Brewers began their work at 8:00 a.m.  Other departments, including Parks, had begun at 7:00 Saturday morning and had most of the park cleaned.  

Supervisors had begun loading piles in their trucks and taking them to roll-offs that had been placed in the park before the 4th. 

"It can be challenging to give up your holiday weekend to pick up trash, but the City employees did, and they showed up strong," Julie said.