J.D. Potié
BRYSON May 4, 2019
On May 4, around 40 Bryson residents roamed the streets with garbage bags and trash pickers to partake in some community cleaning.
Organized by the Bryson municipal council, the town’s annual spring clean-up event was held for a second year with the goal of cleaning the town’s streets and ditches from any waste that has accumulated over the year.
According to Mayor Alain Gagnon, the municipality supplied volunteers with garbage and recycling bags, work gloves and trash pickers to make the work easier.
The group of residents was hard at work all morining clearing the grounds of any kind of residue that stood in their ways.
“You always have cups from Tim Hortons and McDonalds and chocolate bar [wrappers] all over the ground,” he said.
At around noon, volunteers served hot dogs, salads and refreshments inviting the hard-working residents for a community luncheon at the town’s Golden Age Club. In addition to the good food available on the spot, numerous residents donated various treats including cake among many other desserts, Gagnon said.
After what has been an especially long and grueling winter season, Gagnon said it felt good to finally get the clean-up underway as it was a great opportunity for his fellow residents to get outside and socialize.
He believes that the town’s annual spring clean-up has been a great way to bring residents together to work towards a common goal uniting them even more.
“It allows us to regroup ourselves a little more,” he said. “The people get to know each other and share things with one another.”
Around six years ago, Gagnon put in place a revitalization committee dedicated to organizing events to help with the well-being and closeness of residents in Bryson, something he says is really important to the rural way of life.
“In small towns, historically, people are close and they help each other out,” he said. “At some point that kind of lost itself. With this committee I wanted to bring that back.”
