SPOKANE, Wash. – 50 years ago in April, local community leaders came together to help beautify Spokane ahead of Expo ’74.
Pat Cadagan helped to orchestrate this clean-up program by going to the city with a plan for how the community could come together and clean-up before the world visited.
Cadagan was a member of the J.C.’s, or the junior chamber of commerce here in Spokane, but he also worked on the administrative side of local Safeways, so he knew who to talk to in order to set this up.
The idea was to give the public a free place to put as many bags of yard waste as they were willing to collect from their properties so that the town would look good for visitors.
The city arranged for local Safeway parking lots to serve as drop-off points. Throughout April, one dump truck per week was provided by the city to remove the waste to help the community clean the city.
It wasn’t long before the community got behind this idea so much that they ended up having around ten loads per week from each Safeway, all throughout April.
According to the state, as of 1974, it turned out to be the largest community clean-up in the history of Washington.
“And all week long I’d see this pile of garbage bags getting bigger and bigger,” said Cadagan. “Literally into a mountain. You didn’t necessarily drive down the street and see every other yard being raked at the same time, but it was happening.”
The turnout blew away the city’s expectations, but it led to local Safeways receiving an award placard that reads “For outstanding community service, Spokane Safeway stores, April 1974 Spokane”).
