REGINA — For more than two decades, a community cleanup in North Central has done more than remove unwanted furniture, scrap metal and discarded tires. It has brought neighbours together around a shared goal of improving the place they call home.
The North Central Community Association is once again inviting residents and volunteers to roll up their sleeves for its annual Community Spring Cleanup on Saturday, June 6, with crews targeting a large section of the neighbourhood between Elphinstone Street and Albert Street, from the 600 block through to the 1600 block.
The effort, supported by SaskEnergy employees and community volunteers, will collect large items that many residents have difficulty disposing of on their own, including mattresses, furniture, appliances, tires, yard debris and scrap metal.
For North Central Community Association Executive Director Pat Faulconbridge, the event addresses a practical need while also helping strengthen the neighbourhood.
“Each year, we try to target some of the larger items,” Faulconbridge explained. “A lot of people don't have a truck and trailer or they don't have the fees that they can pay at the landfill. So we partner with SaskEnergy, and SaskEnergy brings their trucks and volunteers, and they pick up the big items.”
The cleanup will begin at 10 a.m. from the corner of Sixth Avenue and Angus Street on Cowessess First Nation Urban Reserve land, where volunteers will gather before spreading out through the designated area.
The North Central Community Association serves approximately 10,000 residents across 183 square blocks, making it one of Regina's largest inner-city neighbourhoods. Covering an area of more than 4,300 homes and over 100 businesses and organizations, the community's size makes large-scale cleanup efforts both challenging and important.
Faulconbridge said the association has refined its approach over many years, creating a system that allows volunteers to efficiently collect both large items and smaller debris.
While SaskEnergy volunteers use trucks to collect bulky items, community volunteers walk alleys and public spaces gathering litter and debris into bags that are later picked up and transported to disposal bins.
“It really is a community-involved activity,” Faulconbridge said.
Additional support comes from Loraas Disposal, which provides bins and transportation to the landfill, while Cowessess First Nation is providing space for the operation's staging area.
The event has become so well known that many residents now plan around it.
“We actually have people every year phoning to see when we're doing our cleanup,” Faulconbridge said. “Then they can kind of target getting some of their stuff out into their alley for us to pick up.”
Beyond improving appearances, organizers say the cleanup plays an important environmental role.
“It really does help people clean up their yards,” Faulconbridge said. “But also we're looking at it from an environmental perspective too. When you leave things that are deteriorating on the ground, it soaks into the soil, and then when it rains, it spreads out.”
Keeping alleys and public spaces clear also creates safer places for children.
“A lot of kids ride their bikes or play in the alleys and we need to have them clean so that it's safe for them,” she added.
Volunteers do not need previous experience to participate. Gloves, reflective vests and garbage bags will be provided, and participants can simply arrive at the muster point Saturday morning.
Organizers are hopeful this year's cleanup will continue a long tradition of community-led improvement while highlighting a side of North Central that often receives less attention.
“North Central gets pretty disillusioned with some of the negative stories that come out of this community all the time,” Faulconbridge said. “It would be nice to have a good story that shows how people are coming together and they're proud of their neighbourhood and they want their neighbourhood to be safe.”
As dozens of volunteers prepare to spend part of their weekend helping neighbours, organizers say the cleanup represents something bigger than removing waste. It is a visible reminder of the pride, cooperation and resilience that continue to define the community.
“We're trying to change the narrative about North Central,” Faulconbridge said. “It's just showing what a beautiful community this is and how people work together.”
