The Lee County Board of Commissioners will be hosting the county’s Eighth Annual River’s Alive event on Saturday, July 20th. Rivers Alive began in 2006 with just forty volunteers traveling on the lower portion of the Kinchafoonee Creek. The event has grown with each event and now covers six portions including three on the Kinchafoonee Creek, two on the Muckalee Creek and one motorized boat clean up on the Flint River.

This year, groups of volunteers will be continuing their clean efforts on the waterways. A recent review of records of the county events showed that tremendous improvements have been made. Since the event was started, a total of 2,038 hours have been spent removing trash and debris from the waterways in Lee County. The event has attracted 400+ local volunteers and out of the area individuals with some traveling as far away as Atlanta and Augusta to assist in the clean up.

These volunteers also include county and city leaders, off-duty Lee County and City of Leesburg employees. A total of 194 miles of creek and river shoreline has been picked up and re-traveled to ensure litter has not accumulated back in the same areas. These events have totaled in 11,330 pounds of trash being taken from our creeks and River.

Some of the more unusual items taken from the waterways include bicycles, steel drums, washers, dryers, an engine block, a wheel barrel, two sunken boats, a Dr. Pepper drink machine, and a camper top. The most common items removed are plastic drink bottles, glass beer bottles, aluminum cans, snack food containers, air mattresses, and bait boxes. One individual found an intact glass whiskey flask that dated to the 1880s.

Please consider joining in this year’s event! To sign up, please contact the Lee County Chamber of Commerce at 759-2422 by July 5th. We will need your name, shirt size, if you need to borrow a canoe, if you will be staying for lunch at Chehaw Park after the event and which portion of the waterway you are interested in traveling.

· Upper Kinchafoonee – Pinewood to Hwy #32 West. (All day event)
· Middle Kinchafoonee – Hwy #32 West to Century Road.
· Lower Kinchafoonee – Century Road to US 19 South.
· Lower Muckalee – Old football camp to Chehaw Park
· Flint River – Motorized boats only please.