With summer officially drawing to a close, East Windsor Township is preparing to clean up Etra Lake Park and is looking for some help.

Township Mayor Janice Mironov announced, in partnership with the East Windsor Clean Communities Committee, she and the township council will hold a Clean Up Day event on Saturday, September 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the park.

“I think the feeling is after the summer, when there’s been so much use in the park, that it might be a good idea to give it a really good cleaning going into the winter months,” said Councilman Alan Rosenberg at last week’s council meeting.

Mironov said she hopes the event will encourage and instill community pride in residents and young people about the condition and look of the community. 

“This is a terrific opportunity for East Windsor residents to come together to improve the appearance of our Township,” she said.

The township will sponsor a contest with prizes for individuals and groups who bag the most trash between 10 a.m. and noon.

Participants will be provided with gloves and trash bags.  Clean Communities t-shirts, giveaways, and refreshments will also be available. 

The council took into consideration cleaning up other parks, or possibly splitting the efforts between Etra Lake Park and one other East Windsor park, but ultimately decided to focus its efforts on the township’s largest park this year.

“I think the idea of the contest is also a fairly new idea, and we’d like it to be a homerun,” Rosenburg said. “If it works in Etra Park, maybe we can look at other clean up days in other parks in addition to this.”

Individuals and groups interested in participating can call 443-4000 ext. 237 for information or register at municipal_clerk@east-windsor.nj.us.