Etna, Sharpsburg residents to battle for Earth Day supremacy

A friendly competition between Etna and Sharpsburg will result in cleaner communities for residents of both boroughs.

Volunteers are being sought to fan out across their hometowns the morning of April 26 for the annual “Etna-Sharpsburg Earth Day Challenge.”

Residents can sign up online — Etna at volunteersignup.org/9FKRC and Sharpsburg at www.volunteersignup.org/ebxh9 — or are welcome to just show up.

The challenge started in 2019 as a way to boost turnout for the Earth Day cleanup, said Megan Tuñón, executive director of the Etna Community Organization.

“It’s all in the spirit of good fun,” she said. “The day after the cleanup, the community just looks great. There’s not a speck of garbage anywhere. It’s lovely.”

This year will be the first challenge for Jodi Klebick, executive director of the Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization.

“Everybody wins,” she said. “We all get clean towns and a chance to come together and have some fun.”

Residents will begin gathering at their respective municipal buildings at 8 a.m., where they’ll get supplies before heading out to pick up litter from 9 a.m. to noon.

Public works crews for each borough will take the bagged trash to dumpsters, where the haul from each twon will be compared and a winner declared.

When the work is done at noon, participants will gather for lunch along North Canal Street in Sharpsburg.

The lunch will overlap with the first of a new, quarterly event called Spend a Saturday in Sharpsburg, which Klebick said is replacing First Fridays. It will run from noon to 2 p.m.

Each will have a theme. The first, Spring Into Sharpsburg, will include garden-themed crafts and activities, vendors, games and music.

Future days, also from noon to 2 p.m., will be Splash Into Summer on June 21, Summer Sizzler on Aug. 23 and Sharpsburg Scare on Oct. 25.