FAYETTEVILLE [KFSM] - The annual motorcycle rally ended Saturday (Sep. 27) around midnight, and organizers said volunteers began cleaning up the mess just eight hours later.
"It's a way bigger rally than it's ever been before," Cleanup coordinator Danny Spears said.
He said a bigger rally means more trash to be picked up, but said the benefits outweigh the thousands of pounds of garbage.
"We have to work a little bit harder, but it's very much worth it to have all these people come here and have a good time, and it was a good rally," Spears said.
He said several agencies helped to clean up the venue, including the Washington County Jail, students from Lincoln High School, the Fayetteville band, the local Kiwanis branch, the Faith Riders and many more.
"We've got a lot of kids up here helping and it teaches them a lot about character and responsibility, and we get a little money back for our school but at the same time it's great for our kids," Lincoln athletic director Deon Birkes said.
He said around 30 students came out to help Sunday (Sep. 28) in two different shifts. The school had two buses downtown to shuttle students. Birkes said there are life lessons to be learned from hauling trash, one of those being team work.
"It doesn't just happen instantly, but it does happen if everybody will stay after it and just keep putting trash in the dumpsters and trash in trash cans," Birkes said.
Spears said he is hoping to have the area cleaned up by Sunday evening, but he said at the very least, people going to work Monday should see a trash-free downtown.
"We're going to get it as close as we can, but if we could get ten inches of rain tonight that would be awesome," Spears said.
Bikes, Blues and BBQ began Wednesday afternoon, and lasted for four days.