Sun shines on Milton cleanup day

Anna Gregory, 8, picks up a plastic bottle as other members of the Milton Home School group clean the roadbed near Lockhart Memorial Field on Saturday in Milton. (Harrison Thorp photos)

The clouds parted and the sun shined brightly for scores of roadside cleanup volunteers on Saturday in Milton.

“It was a great turnout, everyone showed up, the weather was perfect. You couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Recreation Director Karen Brown.

Between 50 and 60 volunteers turned out to clean up areas of White Mountain Highway, Appleby Road, Governor’s Road and other high visibility spots throughout Milton and Milton Mills. Both villages got some attention including Veteran’s Park and the downtown park by the dam, Brown said.

Afterward volunteers joined in a potluck lunch at the New Hampshire Farm Museum that included some tasty chili and squash soup.

Volunteer Gary Burnham estimated the Home School group he helped lead would pick up about 10 bags of trash between the Old Town Hall on Townhouse Road and Lakeside Market.

He said along the way the group found several syringes, which were handled carefully by adults, as well as a bike ditched in a brook and countless discarded cans of beer and plastic bottles of soda.

The 10 or so groups worked from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Brown said.

This Milton Earth Day Cleanup was sponsored by Moose Mountains Regional Greenways, the New Hampshire Farm Museum, Branch Hill Farm, the Milton Recreation Department, the Milton Conservation Commission, Milton Home Schoolers, Milton Fire and Rescue, Boy Scout Troop 155 and Cub Scout Troop 155.