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River Round Up

Celebrate 30 Years of River Cleanup with Us!

This year marks the 30th Annual Licking County River Roundup—a milestone event that brings our community together to make a lasting impact on the health of the Licking River and its tributaries. Let’s make this year’s cleanup the biggest and best yet!

In 2024, our volunteers helped remove:

  • 12,000 pounds of trash

  • 124 tires

  • 1,420 pounds of scrap metal

With 288 dedicated volunteers at 12 different locations, we made a tremendous difference in just one day. Imagine what we can accomplish this fall with even more helping hands!

Save the Date:
River Roundup 2025 will take place on Saturday, September 6th
Registration opens Thursday, July 11th

Help us celebrate 30 years of environmental stewardship by being part of the solution. Let’s keep our waterways clean, healthy, and thriving—for today and generations to come!


 

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Thank you 2024 Sponsors!


2025 River Round Up Poster Contest

Congratulations to the 2025 River Round Up Poster Contest Winners: Lillian Sotkovsky, Eva Haylett, and Isaac Haylett! Each winner will receive a $100 cash prize, as well as a $500 scholarship for their school to use toward advancing science and art projects. These winning posters will be used to help promote the 2025 Licking County River Round Up. Congratulations winners!

Event Committee

Buckeye Lake for Tomorrow:  Steve Glade  www.buckeyelakefortomorrow.org 

Community Members: Jim & Lynna Kiracofe 

City of Pataskala: Alan Haines - cityofpataskalaohio.gov

City of Heath: Daulton Brown - heathohio.gov

City of Newark: Lindsey Brighton - https://www.newarkohio.gov/

Grove by the River/Goodwill Industries: Lisa Baker - thegrovebytheriver.com

Licking County Health Department: Katie Beaver - lickingcohealth.org

Licking County Recycling: Andrea Krava - lcounty.com/rlc

Licking County Soil & Water Conservation District: Kristy Hawthorne - LickingSWCD.com

Licking Park District: Anne Balogh - lickingparkdistrict.com

Matesich Distributing: Mike Hinger - matesichbeer.com

The Dawes Arboretum: Kathy Annarino- dawesarb.org

Union Township: Paula Greene - uniontownship-licking.com

Village of Hanover:  Nicloe Gieseler - hanoverohio.net

Village of Hebron: CJ Ward - hebronvillage.org

Village of Granville: Debi Walker Yost - granville.oh.us

  • History:  The river clean up brought out hundreds of volunteers who pulled tires, shopping carts and mountains of trash from an 18 mile stretch of the river. Through their efforts, a river that had all but been abandoned, has seen a rebirth of aquatic and bird life. Due to the closing of a canoe livery and the changing of staff, the River Round Up ended in 2003.

    Rebirth:  After a break of eight years, several Licking County and City of Newark agencies came together to bring back the River Round Up in 2011. The recent clean ups have been very successful. In 2014, for the 20th anniversary of the River Round Up, our goal was to continue to branch out into the community and clean up more waterways throughout the county.

    Now:  We have succeeded by expanding the clean up to Pataskala, Union Township, Granville, and Hebron, in addition to maintaining the clean ups in Newark, Blackhand Gorge, St. Louisville, and Buckeye Lake. In 2015, Shackleford's Disposal came on board as our Presenting Sponsor. We added the City of Heath as a new clean up location near Hoback Park and The Dawes Arboretum joined the committee. For 2022, we are looking forward to another successful clean up, new partners and volunteers, and continuing to raise awareness about taking care of our waterways.