BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Dyngus day parade is for people to have fun and enjoy time with family and friends.
But for one woman, it's also about making sure parade-goers clean up after all the fun.
"I was just alarmed and appalled at how much trash was just thrown all over the ground," said Kelly Carroll.
Carroll is a third generation Polish-Irish American. Last year was the first year she went to the Dyngus Day Festivities with her family.
"We were shocked that people were actually decorating bare trees, that were newly planted along Memorial Drive, with garbage," she said.
So she's inviting people to a Post Dyngus Day clean-upon Memorial Drive Tuesday morning.
Carroll said it's important to her that people treat a neighborhood with respect.
"There's no point in words without actions. So the cleanup really came as the action out of my complaining more or less," she said.
The event's organizers are well aware of the excess of trash following a big event.
"We go to great lengths to make sure that the neighborhood is cleaned up directly afterwards," said Eddie Dobosiewicz, Pressident of Dyngus Day-Buffalo.
"There are crews that come here [at] seven, 7:30 in the morning the following day with street sweepers, the mayor's Impact team shows up and you could eat off of the streets," he said.
Dobosiewicz said they've tripled the amount of trash containers this year.
He hopes people come out to celebrate the historic legacy of Polonia.
"One of the main reasons that we started this event was to shine a positive light on this neighborhood in the hopes of re-inventing it, preserving it, revitalizing it," he said.
The Dyngus Day Parade starts on Monday at 5 p.m. in front of Corpus Christi Church on Clark Stree.
