Paddle Pickup 2007

2cfs - Beech Fork
Fairgrounds to 31E

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Wow. This thing just keeps getting bigger.

We had 50+ out on the Beech Fork this Saturday for another great Paddle Pickup.

First I would like to thank everyone who makes this river cleanup possible. People like Mike Hammons with Central Kentucky Canoe & Kayak. He halts his own business and donates his entire fleet of canoes to us each year. And when we load these things with tires and old scrap metal then scrape them down the rubble dam, we really but the boats through the ringer. But with out them, the Paddle Pickup could never grow to be this large. So Mike, the Bardstown Boaters would like to thank you for all or your hard work and support.

We would like to thank Nelson County for providing all the means needed to remove the bulk garbage from the river.

We would like to thank the Bardstown Rotarians for providing t-shirts for all the volunteers of the Paddle Pickup.

We would like to thank the Bluegrass Tavern and Smith Brothers Distributing for providing us with a new banner for this year's event.

And special thanks goes out to Boy Scout Troops 142 and 147. They came out big for the 2007 Paddle Pickup. Over 20 scouts paddled the river, cleaning it up and removing tons of garbage from it. The Boy Scouts worked very hard on this day and it couldn't have been this great of an effort without them.

This year the Paddle Pickup removed more trash for our local stream bed than ever before. Over 80 tires were among the tons of garbage removed, which includes an old news paper dispenser that has been wasting away down at the Beech Fork for about a decade and of course your standard 20 bags full of beer and soft drink cans.

Sadly we had two blatant displays of disrespect to our river during the Paddle Pickup. A group of eight paddlers putting on at 31E threw down beer cans right in front of a group of volunteers who were removing tires from the river. Also a father son team of polluters threw down their bait container and soft drink cans while they enjoyed fishing at the freshly cleaned rubble dam.

Keep throwing your trash in the river, and we'll keep picking it up. We won't be stopping. One day these idiots will get the message.

If you weren't able to make it out this year, we'll be doing it again next year. It will take place again during the National River Cleanup Week.

Thanks to all our volunteers who helped make our local waterways a better place. We'll see you on the river.