WAILUA — There will be free coffee for volunteers who help clean up Lydgate Park on Saturday, John Lydgate said Tuesday. He was wrapping up his morning tour at the park named after his grandfather. “We’ve had a lot of
WAILUA — There will be free coffee for volunteers who help clean up Lydgate Park on Saturday, John Lydgate said Tuesday.
He was wrapping up his morning tour at the park named after his grandfather.
“We’ve had a lot of wood wash down Wailua River from the storm last Thursday,” Lydgate said. “The river washes down the debris and the strong trades wash everything back in and it ends up on the beach.”
This is a recurring problem that has plagued Lydgate and his volunteers each time a storm hits the island. During several of the heavier storms previously, the county has had to contract heavy equipment operators to come in and literally scoop up the masses of debris that choked off Morgan’s Ponds, Lydgate said, noting that he would like to see a small crane or other track-equipped vehicle be kept at Lydgate Park for such purposes.
But since Thursday’s deluge, there have been scores of volunteers rolling up their sleeves to help Lydgate and the Friends of Lydgate Park spruce up the popular Eastside destination.
“Normally, we do beach cleanup once a month — usually the first Saturday of the month,” Lydgate said. “But with the arrival of the storms, we’ve had to increase that to cleanups every week.”
Volunteers are needed to help spruce up the park between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. to help get rid of some of the accumulated debris, mostly twigs, branches and boughs.
“We get a lot of volunteers, both residents as well as visitors from the hotel,” Lydgate said. “That helps make the work go faster, and there will be Starbucks coffee served, courtesy of Starbucks at Borders.”
The accumulation is not limited to the beach area though, as Lydgate pointed out that one of the dumpsters used to collect debris and trash has been filled to overflowing, preventing the container cover to close properly.
“The haulers won’t move it until that pile is lowered,” Lydgate said. “Thomas Noyes will be assembling some people to take care of that problem starting at 7 a.m., Wednesday.”
Lydgate said Noyes will probably use trailers and personal vehicles to transport the overflow debris to a green waste area in the park where it will be composted and used to help maintain the park.
Morgan’s Ponds were created when Albert Morgan got photographs of similar ponds being used by fishermen, and after wanting a safe place for his daughters to swim, arranged with the plantation for rocks, hired a Chinese contractor, and built the popular swimming area for about $60,000 in 1964, Lydgate said.
Since then, countless Eastside children have learned to swim at the facility and numerous visitors frequent the facility daily.
“Po‘ipu (Beach) has become known as ‘Sunny Po‘ipu,’” Lydgate said. “I just want Lydgate Park to become known as safe, accessible and sparkling.”
