Spring has now officially arrived and with it will bring not only longer days and warmer weather, but for this area in particular, a lot heavier volume of visitors to the Albany/Clinton County area who vacation around the Dale Hollow and Lake Cumberland areas.

As has become a tradition since the inception of the PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment) Program several years ago, more than 40 counties in eastern and southern Kentucky will take part in the annual PRIDE Spring Clean-Up program that runs throughout the entire month of April.

A major purpose of the program is to help keep our roadways free of unsightly trash and litter as more and more out-of-state visitors, as well as more activity among local residents, take place during the spring, summer and early fall months.

Two PRIDE Clean-ups are held each year, once in April and another in October.

This coming weekend, the pre-cleanup event will see volunteers from Clinton and Cumberland counties join together to clean the roadways leading to Dale Hollow Lake, in time for the spring tourist season that is about to begin.

The third annual project will be held Saturday, March 23 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt, free lunch and will be entered into a drawing for door prizes, including free one-day pontoon rentals at Hendricks Creek and Sulphur Creek Resorts and two tickets to a UK football game this fall.

Volunteer registration for this event will begin at 9 a.m. at the following locations: Hendricks Creek Dock, Sulphur Creek Dock, Wisdom Dock, Wolf River Dock and Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park’s picnic area.

Volunteers will pick up litter along the roads around the lake and there will also be safe, age-appropriate cleanup areas for groups with children. All volunteers will receive trash bags, gloves and safety vests at registration and will meet at noon for a cookout and drawing for door prizes at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park.

For more information on this particular event, contact Cumberland County Judge/Executive John Phelps at 270-864-3444, or Clinton County PRIDE Coordinator Tuesday Davis at 606-387-4633.

Davis said late last week that there were also some groups that are on board to help with the Dale Hollow cleanup project, including Foothills Academy residents and the local Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts.

The actual PRIDE Clean-up month, in which volunteers are asked to help clean up the entire city and county, will begin on Monday, April 1 and run through April 30.

Any resident or group who would like to volunteer to clean up an area should contact either Davis at the phone number listed above, or Lyle Norris, Clinton County Solid Waste Coordinator at 688-2288. Just let them know basic information such as which areas they would like to clean up, whether they will be doing it individually or with a group, and the days they would be available to do the volunteer work.

The county, through PRIDE funds and Litter Abatement funds, provide trash bags and gloves and the county road department picks up and disposes of the trash collected.

Davis noted that last year in Clinton County, there were approximately 60 volunteers who took part in the spring cleanup event. Although most were in groups, there were other individuals who helped pick up litter in specific areas of their choosing. Also, there are no “priority” roads as volunteers can help clean up in any areas where they choose.

Davis noted that there were usually church groups, youth groups (with adult supervision) and residents of Foothills Academy who generally take part in the volunteer work, and also in past years, Clinton County Jail inmates have been utilized to help clean up on county roadways.

With a clean city and county being so important to the vast tourist industry here, there are a lot of emphasis on roads leading to lakes and docks and there have already been some organized cleanup activity that has taken place along the Grider Hill Dock Road even before the official start of the spring season.

Davis said that last year, the PRIDE supplement for Clinton County was approximately $3,000 but doesn’t know the exact amount of funding assistance that will be available this year, since most programs across the country have suffered budget cuts due to the lagging economy.

A press release issued by PRIDE after the interview with Davis indicated that Albany and Clinton County would share $1,700 for this year’s clean-up effort.

“Volunteers (especially individuals), usually end up cleaning up in their own general neighborhoods, or roads leading into their homes, which is a good thing,” Davis said.

Norris also made a plea to volunteers to help clean up the county and take “pride” in where they live.

He also touched on the ongoing issue of trying to clean up illegal dump sites in the county, but added they were waiting to see if there will be funds available to help in cleaning up more such sites.

This year, Eastern Kentucky Pride will make available a total of $137,450 to be distributed among all the participating cities and counties who take part in the Spring Cleanup.

Also, there will be funding this year for a tire amnesty program, which according to the PRIDE website, is scheduled for May 2, 3 and 4 in Clinton County. More details on that program will be published as they become available.

In 2012, in the eastern and southern Kentucky area during the spring cleanup PRIDE event, some 26,711 total volunteers collected 50,042 bags of trash; 3,000 tons of trash from landscapes; 90 tons of junk appliances and other recyclable materials and 3,037 old tires to be disposed on property.