Beauty outshines ugly any day.

The 1950 Chevy disappears on a Mercedes car lot, doesn’t it?

It is impossible to pick out the grumpy old man among the beauty pageant Top 10.

And if you plant enough flowers, no one will see the litter, correct?

Afraid not.

In preparation for Spring Pilgrimage, Natchez got out its green thumb.

The Mayor’s Beautification Committee recently planted flowers along our downtown streets and it was a great step in the right direction.

The flowers are gorgeous, but the fast-food cup next to them isn’t. Neither are the cigarette butts.

And as the Natchez Convention and Promotion Commission pointed out at their Wednesday meeting, Natchez needs the “wow factor.”

For a city that lives on tourism, litter is intolerable.

Keeping our streets, sidewalks and highways clean should be the responsibility of the city, county, residents and business owners.

We can start by using the trashcans. First-graders know littering is bad. Don’t you?

The CVB also mentioned businesses that load trash bags onto the street Friday afternoon for an early Monday morning pickup are contributing to the ugliness.

Businesses — especially during Pilgrimage — need to make plans to take out the trash on Monday mornings, late Sunday night or simply hold it until the mid-week pickup. It might be a hassle, but it’s worth it for the community.

And the rest of us need to pick up the litter we see.

Our city is historically beautiful. Keeping it that way is up to all of us.