NATCHEZ — A group of local citizens who want to keep the Natchez-Adams County area beautiful banded together to do just that Saturday.

Keep Natchez-Adams Beautiful, the local chapter of Keep America Beautiful, banded together to clean up the Broadmoor park.

A group of approximately 25 neighborhood residents and volunteers gathered together to pick up litter, trim tall grass, and clean the ballpark kitchen and restrooms, Keep Natchez-Adams Beautiful committee member Stephanie Hutchins said.

After the initial cleanup was finished — the group also painted some of the playground equipment later — more than 30 bags of litter, most of which were drink bottles, had been collected.

The cleanup, which began at 8 a.m., lasted only two hours, though it had been expected to last until noon.

“We just had such a great turnout that everything went a lot faster than we expected,” Hutchins said.

In the past, citizens have complained to the authorities that the park was being used for drug use and other illicit activity after hours.

But the goal of the cleanup was to encourage positive activity, Hutchins said.

“If you give someone something to be proud of, they are more likely to take care of it,” Hutchins said.

Choosing the park for the cleanup project just seemed to make sense because of the time of year, Hutchins said.

“We chose the park because the kids are out of school and need somewhere to play,” she said.

For Broadmoor resident Betty Sago, the cleanup was personally important.

“When I look outside my back door, I don’t want to see graffiti and litter and trash,” Sago said.

This is the second Keep Natchez-Adams County Beautiful clean up this year. The first cleanup was in downtown Natchez.