As the weather continues to warm up, opportunities for spring cleaning will be abundant.

Already, two “clean up” days have been conducted.

Friday, a small group gathered downtown for the annual Main Street Clean Sweep sponsored by Bluegrass Greensource and this weekend, the first Neighbors Connect event was hosted with a litter pick up Saturday morning at College Park and then a neighborhood picnic Sunday afternoon.

Both of these events served dual purposes by allowing the community and neighbors to network while beautifying two heavily-trafficked areas in the community.

Where humans go, it is inevitable trash and litter will follow. Unfortunately, not everyone is responsible with their garbage and sometimes, natural forces, like wind or rain, will pick up trash and leave it scattered about.

We applaud these groups for taking the initiative to clean up the community and for having the community-mindedness to address an issue.

The Clean Sweep is an annual event hosted around Earth Day that others can gather for next year, and other Neighbors Connect events are planned for more areas of the community.

This weekend, a local student will offer another opportunity to clean up the community.

Dallas Hall, a student at St. Agatha Academy, is completing a service project for the 4-H Natural Resource and Environmental Sciences Academy. For this project, Dallas is cleaning a stream. He is asking for help from other volunteers.

Anyone interested in helping can meet at 10 a.m. at the Thoroughbred Apartments, located at 124 Sterling St. The clean-up effort is expected to last until noon. Those who plan to help are asked to email annahall_00@yahoo.com. In the case of rain, the event will be rescheduled.

Additionally, Winchester Municipal Utilities has rescheduled its spring clean day for 7 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 5. WMU will accept solid waste disposal items. A current water bill and picture ID are required. Will not accept paint, propane tanks, lead-acid batteries, free liquids, household or hazardous waste, masonry, brick, concrete debris or appliances containing freon. Tires will be accepted only if off the rim, and at an additional charge. For more information, call 744-1170.

There are numerous other opportunities throughout the spring and summer months to participate in efforts to keep the community clean, like the annual River Sweep slated for June.

A clean community offers many benefits beyond the aesthetics. It improves safety, quality of life, property values and more.

If you can’t help with community-wide clean up efforts, take some time this spring to spruce up your own property, or even simply take small day-to-day measures, like picking up litter, keeping trash in containers, recycling and more.

A little goes a long to make Winchester-Clark County a more beautiful place to call home.