The annual effort to do spring cleaning projects around the City of Thompson Falls was held last week. Beautification Days is a community-wide effort to clean up community areas and assist residents with cleaning their yards.

The event began Thursday with various school groups walking through Thompson Falls picking up trash. Thompson Falls High School students divided to conquer both sides of the highway, as well as city streets above the railroad tracks. The groups filled several large trash bags on their outing.

Students from the Trout Creek Adventist School were in town on Thursday to rake, pull weeds, sweep and pick up trash on the north side of Main Street. Teacher Maurita Crew said this is the fourth year the school has cleaned the area for Beautification Days. "Part of our mission is service to others and this is a great way to support that and the community," Crew said. "It teaches the kids at a young age how to work hard."

Seth Overbeck, a fifth grader from the Trout Creek Adventist School, said the project was fun. He said he likes it because keeping the community clean makes other people happy and it looks better. He noted that he's proud when his family drives by and he sees what they accomplished.

Another group that has adopted a Beautification Days project each year is the Clark Fork Valley Elks. The Elks gathered at Wild Goose Landing Park on Thursday morning for their annual clean-up of the park and boat launch area. More than a dozen volunteers from the organization were on hand, making quick work of the effort.

Annie Wooden

Thompson Falls High School students pick up trash at Rose Garden park.

Students and staff from Building Bridges took on the task of helping residents clean their yards for Beautification Days, working Friday to rake and provide other assistance to community members. Studs Building and Home also got involved in Beautification Days this year, offering specials and helping the Trout Creek Archery Club raise money for their upcoming trip to the national tournament. Studs provided burgers, hot dogs and all the fixings and the archery club cooked lunch in exchange for donations from community members. Trout Creek Principal Preston Wenz was grilling Friday afternoon as students helped serve. Wenz said the community support for the team, which placed first at state earlier this year, has been amazing. A recent fundraiser at the Naughty Pine in Trout Creek raised $11,000 for the team. Wenz said the team will have money to support future years of travel and supplies for the team. "All donations go directly to the team," Wenz said. "Everybody has been phenomenal."

Jack Everett is a seventh grader at Trout Creek and was part of the Beautification Days team Friday at Studs. He said being on the team has been a lot of fun, and he is looking forward to winning at the national competition.