Company is coming: Volunteers needed to spruce up Silverton

By Aurora Ellison

When pressure washers are involved, you know it’s serious spring cleaning.

Silverton resident Gregg Sheesley already has four pressure washers lined up, but he could use a few more.

Sheesley is spearheading “Company is Coming” Spring Clean-Up Day, to scour downtown Silverton from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 7.

With a full slate of summer festivals, Sheesley wants to make sure the town is ready for visitors.

The Silverton Wine and Jazz Festival is the weekend after the clean-up, May 14.

Silverton Chamber of Commerce Director Stacy Palmer, said the Wine and Jazz Festival is attended by about 1,500 people. Thus, the theme, “Company is Coming!”

“It’s perfect timing to spruce up town,” Palmer said.

A small, dedicated committee has helped Sheesley coordinate the effort and recruit volunteers, especially from the local businesses.

“Several people were talking about how dog-eared the place was looking,” Sheesley said.

He referred to the potholes, leaves, dirt and general “wear and tear” of winter weather.

Fortunately, road crews have already begun work on the potholes.

So Sheesley and his band of volunteers are tackling everything between the street and the storefronts.

Volunteers will work in teams, each assigned one block to clean.

Sheesley has an orderly plan: dusting, sweeping, pressure washing the sidewalks, and detailing trashcans and benches. They’ll also be pulling weeds, scraping gum and possibly removing the suckers at the base of the elm trees.

Stores and buildings will not be pressure washed, and Sheesley is going to make a point to avoid spraying dirt on parked cars.

The team’s goal is to clean-up eight downtown blocks—from Park Street to Lewis Street between Water Street and Second Street.

Sheesley is expecting about 50 volunteers. He said it would be great to have 100, but even 30 dedicated volunteers will get a lot done.

Whether volunteers can work all day or give just an hour, they are welcome to join the crew.

People can also help by lending cleaning supplies and tools: rags and tall poles for knocking cobwebs and leaves off buildings, putty knives for scraping gum, grain or snow shovels for picking up debris, and even garden tools. Sheesley said if people bring flowers to plant below the elm trees, he’ll personally water them until the Silverton Wine and Jazz Festival.

There’s one other way to support the clean-up: “Sandwiches or food donations would be nice, so that when people come off of their work time they could stop and get a bite to eat and bask in their glory,” Sheesley said.

If all goes well, Spring Clean-Up Day might become an annual event or the committee may organize another clean-up day in preparation for Homer Davenport Days.

Sheesley anticipates an outcome fit for a postcard, and intends to help make Silverton “the envy of the valley.”