NAWILIWILI — About 50 volunteers from Kaua‘i Marriott hotel properties made short work of their annual cleanup of Nawiliwili Park on Saturday. Chuck Brady of the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club said the annual cleanup is in celebration of
NAWILIWILI — About 50 volunteers from Kaua‘i Marriott hotel properties made short work of their annual cleanup of Nawiliwili Park on Saturday.
Chuck Brady of the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club said the annual cleanup is in celebration of Earth Day (April 22) and is in conjunction with the county’s Adopt-a-Park program.
Volunteers raked leaves, cut back overgrown shrubs, and repaired and repainted 23 picnic tables.
“We also clean up the graffiti at the restrooms and cleaned up that facility,” Brady said. “We asked the guys at Pine Tree Inn if they wanted the tables painted and did those, too.”
Kaupena Kinimaka of the Kaua‘i Marriott said they changed out the timber on tables before repainting.
Jolene Ogle of the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club said the beach club was sending a crew, including members of the landscaping and engineering departments, to do a quick cleanup of the Po‘ipu Beach Park before joining the crew at Nawiliwili Park, where the bulk of the work was being done.
Brad Snyder, general manager of the Marriott’s Kaua‘i Lagoons, said he has a picture of a Nawiliwili cleanup from when his daughter, now in college, was still a preschooler.
“I took a picture and sent it to her saying, ‘Wish you were here,’” Snyder said.
Among the volunteers, Brady said the landscaping and engineering departments made short work of the overgrowth near the canoe hale and some of the perimeter.
“These guys know what they’re doing,” Brady said. “They don’t fool around.”
Thomas Noyes of the Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate Park said his group will host an Earth Day cleanup April 21.
“The big task, though, is not the cleanup, but the prep work for the April 21 workday when volunteers are needed to put together about two dozen picnic tables for Lydgate Park,” Noyes said.
“The county just got through cleaning Morgan’s Ponds and the cleanup is just to take care of whatever debris float in to shore. But the major work will be preparing the lumber for the picnic tables.”
Other Earth Day events include a week-long celebration at Kaua‘i Community College, where the Associated Students of the University of Hawai‘i-KCC will be hosting a series of films, forums, and a general Earth Day 2012 celebration from noon until 6 p.m. Thursday at the college.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
