This file photo shows Higgins Ferry Park at Lake Mitchell during a summer sunrise. A lake clean-up day has been set for Saturday, March 26.

During spring and fall, the Lake Mitchell Home Owners and Boat Owners Association and volunteers work together to keep the lakes in Chilton County clean and inviting.

This spring, the Lake Mitchell cleanup will be held Saturday, March 26.

The HOBO group and Alabama Power are sponsoring this Renew Our Rivers cleanup.

This is one of the Southeast’s largest river cleanups, and volunteers have collected more than 11 million pounds of trash and debris since its launch in 2000.

“The mission of the HOBO is to preserve, protect and improve the quality of life in and around Lake Mitchell,” said HOBO member Ralph Mason. “Doug Powell, the Renew Our Rivers coordinator for Alabama Power said, ‘We’re in better shape than we were a few years ago.’”

More than 30 cleanups are held each year from February through October on the Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Coosa, Mobile, Chattahoochee and Tallapoosa rivers.

“We’ve collected more than just a few bags of trash; last year we had a pier we had to dismantle, and it was heavy and bulky,” said Mason. “We’ve found refrigerators, doors and a lot of debris from old boat houses. It (the cleanup) is a worthy thing to do.”

Those interested in volunteering will meet at Higgins Ferry Park at 8 a.m. The cleanup will end at noon and will be followed by a picnic lunch.

“I would like to see us break 100 volunteers,” said Mason. “The weatherman said we are supposed to have a beautiful weekend, and keeping the lake clean is certainly part of the mission of the HOBO.”

The site is located north of Clanton at the Lake Mitchell exit off I-65. Take County Road 28 until it dead-ends at Higgins Ferry Park.

For more information, contact Ralph Mason at 205-755-6618 or Lee Bendall at 205-823-2403.