Community Effort Award (population under 10,000) - City of Pauls Valley: "Litter Free - The Way to Be!"

Anyone who wants to witness an inspiring display of a community pulling together to beautify itself should visit Pauls Valley in April.  That’s when, year after year, the citizens turn out in very impressive numbers to participate in the Great American Clean-Up.

Kicking things off last April with a parade to cleverly snare public attention, Pauls Valley became a beautifying beehive of activity.  While city employees cleaned 35 tons of debris from an illegal dumpsite adjacent to a city park, hundreds of volunteers were taking away another 81 tons of trash from roadways and parks.

“This is the perfect complement to the city’s year-round ‘Litter Free – The Way to Be!’ clean-up efforts,” our judges said.

Pauls Valley, your excellence in coordinating such a massive effort is small town Oklahoma’s inspiration, and we salute you.