Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Santa Clarita to End Pride Week Celebration With Cleanup

Residents are preparing to give the city a spring cleaning Saturday as part of the annual Santa Clarita Valley Pride Week, an event that collected about 100 tons of trash last year, authorities said.

Youth groups, churches and other organizations will spend the day cleaning public areas, planting trees and working on other projects, Kevin Tonoian, the city’s Pride Week coordinator, said. Also, free disposal of everything from lumber scraps to refrigerators will be provided at four drop-off sites from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s one of those things where you can literally bring everything including the kitchen sink,” he said.

Saturday’s cleanup is the final and most active day of Pride Week, Tonoian said. He said private groups have been conducting smaller cleanup projects since Sunday.

Pride Committee members started the event eight years ago because people were using remote areas of Santa Clarita to dump large appliances and other items that trash services don’t normally haul, Tonoian said.

“It keeps our residents, hopefully, from using the Santa Clara River for disposing of a couch or an old washing machine,” he said.

Between 800 and 1,000 people from 30 community groups participated in cleanup projects last year, said Barbara Myler, coordinator of volunteers for Pride Week. She said those who volunteer this year will be given trash bags--and a free T-shirt--for cleaning a specific site.

“They can pick a spot, or if they’re not sure where to go they can call me for a location,” she said.

Drop-off sites for Saturday’s cleanup are at Magic Mountain Parkway and Valencia Boulevard, San Fernando Road about one-half mile west of Sierra Highway, Pamplico and Taryn drives, and Santa Clarita Disposal at 17524 Sierra Highway.

Hazardous liquids such as oil and paint solvents cannot be dropped off, but a hazardous waste collection day is scheduled next weekend at College of the Canyons, Tonoian said. Also, he said the sites do not have the capacity to collect large amounts of construction waste, such as debris from earthquake repairs.

For more information on Pride Week, call (815) 252-0404.