2024 Earth Day Roundup
Earth Day is on Monday, April 22! Join us to make Detroit’s parks cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful. A lineup of DPC Earth Day events is below. Volunteers are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather, wear boots or closed-toe shoes, and bring a pair of gloves to the cleanup events.
Saturday, April 20
Clark Park
1130 Clark Street
9 am - 12 noon
Volunteers will be raking leaves and picking up dead branches in the park. Lunch will be provided.
Eliza Howell Park
23751 Fenkell Ave.
10 am – 2 pm
Volunteers to rescue discarded materials from the Rouge River which will be cleaned off and repurposed in a community-built art installation led by Detroit-based artist Halima Cassells, drawing attention to the issue of water pollution. Register online.
Dequindre Cut Greenway
Volunteer check-in tables at the Woodbridge, Lafayette, Gratiot and Wilkins entrances
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Volunteers of all ages and abilities to remove litter from the Dequindre Cut Greenway and its surrounding streets. Attendees encouraged to bring gardening gloves and pickers. Register online.
SUNDAY, APRIL 21
Rouge Park – Trash Pickup
Meet at Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association, 8886 Lahser Rd.
Rouge Park – Invasive Species Removal
Joe Prance Park, West Parkway and West Chicago
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Friends of Rouge Park will host two Earth Day cleanup events this year. Volunteers are encouraged to take part in a trash pickup at the Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association. Volunteers can also take part in a project to remove invasive plants from the woods in preparation for a nature play area. The invasive species removal is more strenuous. The first 50 volunteers will also receive a tree that they can take home to plant. Register online.
MONDAY, APRIL 22
O’Hair Park
19800 Pembroke Ave.
9:30 am
The O’Hair Park Community Association, joined by students from Henry Ford High School, will be sprucing up O’Hair Park in celebration of Earth Day. Volunteers will meet at Shelter 2, at Pembroke at Edinborough at 9:30 a.m. The students will walk to the fence along Stahelin from Pembroke and work their way north past Fargo. After lunch, students will enjoy a fun Earth Day activity.
Chandler Park
12831 Frankfort St.
10 am – 12 pm
Volunteers to help plant flowers and vegetables at the Chandler Park Community Garden. Participants encouraged to wear comfortable work boots or shoes and bring gloves, snacks and a water bottle.
Clark Park
1130 Clark Street
11 am - 4 pm
Volunteers will be raking leaves and picking up dead branches in the park. Lunch will be provided.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27
Belle Isle
Outside the Belle Isle Aquarium, 3 Inselruhe Ave.
9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Volunteers to clean up single-use plastic and other littered items throughout the park. The collected trash will be weighed at the Belle Isle Aquarium to measure the cleanup’s impact. The Belle Isle Conservancy is also employing BeBot, an automated litter remover, to help clean up Belle Isle. Sign up online.
Palmer Park
910 Merrill Plaisance St.
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Volunteers to take part in trash pickup, weeding, sweeping, raking and clearing. Large art installations and solo musicians will be found as guests wander through Palmer Park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods. Sign up online.
