Beach Cleanup Draws Devoted Volunteers : Environment: Workers comb the sand for debris at the San Buenaventura shoreline. The effort is in preparation for next weekend’s Pirate Festival.

At a time usually reserved for sea birds and introspective beach walks, San Buenaventura State Beach early Saturday was crawling with shoreline aficionados lugging billowy white trash bags.

“It’s a shame that people can’t toss their goods away,” said Diane Kelly, as she dumped cigarette butts and used fast-food sacks into her white trash bag.

Kelly, a computer consultant, and about 50 others arrived at the beach at 9 a.m. to participate in the first Pirate Festival Beach Cleanup. Volunteers combed the sand for trash in preparation for next weekend’s Pirate Festival, which will feature arts-and-craft booths, food and entertainment with a pirate theme.

State parks officials are responsible for keeping the coastline clear of debris. But with its budget strapped for cash, the department cannot afford to clean the beach as often and as thoroughly as it once did.

“So we pick up the stuff that falls through the cracks,” said Russ Smith, executive director of the Ventura Visitor and Convention Bureau, one of the organizations sponsoring the cleanup.

For volunteer Olivia Garcia of Ventura, that meant picking up material that looked suspiciously like plastic mattress covering, plus a lot of Starburst candy wrappers and the ubiquitous cigarette butts.

Then, too, there were some pleasant surprises buried in the sand. “Oh, look what I found!” Garcia exclaimed as she shook out a red elastic hair band and wrapped it about her wrist.

Garcia and her children noticed a flyer announcing the cleanup while eating dinner at McDonald’s the night before. The fast-food restaurant was one of the event’s sponsors.

“I thought it would be fun to do something with my kids,” said Garcia, a checker at K mart. “So this is a family outing and a chance to show them that we just don’t do things to get paid, but also to volunteer and help the community.”

*

Richard Garcia Jr., 12, wearing fashionably baggy shorts that hung to his knees, picked one piece of trash to his mother’s two. Yeah, he was having fun, he allowed. He guessed he’d be playing baseball if he wasn’t here, he added after some prodding.

Across the beach, the younger and less self-conscious Richard Cano, 6, wore a big smile as he picked up stray bits of Styrofoam and glass bottles along the shore. “I’m having a good time,” the budding environmentalist announced. “I came out today to help the environment, protect the animals and make people come out and help me.”

Richard combed the sand with his sister Courtney, 3, and their father, Anthony, a Ventura air-conditioner installer. Asked what he would do if he saw a grown-up littering on the beach in the future, Richard replied, “I would say, ‘You shouldn’t do that, that next time you should throw away the trash because you are littering the beach and polluting the environment.’ ”

Many of Saturday’s volunteers belonged to the Surfrider Foundation, a coalition of surfers, boaters and swimmers devoted to keeping the water clean and the shoreline free of debris. One such beach cleaner, Brian Brennan, volunteers at least one beach cleaning a month somewhere along the Ventura County coastline.

*

“I’ve gotten to the point where I’m militant about asking people to pick up their trash,” he said, arms akimbo, clutching two white trash bags filled with junk. “You can pick up their trash for them, or you can educate them (not to do it).”

About noontime, Brennan appeared near the parking lot with a large bowl of Caesar salad--a donation to the volunteers from The Chart House restaurant, where he is the general manager. Seven-Up donated soft drinks and McDonald’s offered coupons for a free meal to all who joined in the cleanup.

Many volunteers also received tickets for free admission to next week’s Pirate Festival, which is sponsored by the private company, Gold Coast Productions.

As for volunteer Diane Kelly, the free food and tickets were nice, but she was looking forward to the evening. “I’m going on a campfire hike organized by the Conejo Parks and Recreation District,” she said. “I’m going to reward myself for this.”