Edmontonians lend hand in 'Great Downtown Sweep' to clean up the core

File photo.

EDMONTON — Don’t be surprised to see clean-up crews roaming downtown Friday afternoon.

Edmontonians will be taking to the streets as part of the Great Downtown Sweep clean-up event starting at 3 pm.

The two-hour event will clean streets of the debris collected over the summer.

The first 200 people to join the effort will receive a $5 voucher from the Downtown Business Association, redeemable at various patios Friday evening.

Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson, a member of the DBA’s downtown recovery taskforce, called a diverse core that’s clean and pleasant to live in crucial to the economy.

“Downtown matters and we need to look after it,” he said.

DBA interim executive director Nick Lilley added, “While COVID-19 has brought about significant changes, what has not changed is our community’s commitment to a vibrant and connected downtown.”

The DBA is providing clean-up kits for participants, but not masks so Edmontonians were encouraged to bring their own, and assigning streets to volunteers.