Town Point Trash Dive 2010
The Town Point Trash Dive 2010
To Commemorate 2010 Earth Day and the Global Day of Service
Saturday, April 17, 2010
10 am - 4pm
Town Point Park, Downtown Norfolk Waterfront
On April 12, Earth Day's International Global Day of Service, thousands of volunteers around the world will be seen planting trees, cleaning beaches and road ways, and working on energy saving community projects.
But what won't be as visible will be the generous work of more than 50 commercial divers from several Hampton Roads dive companies including Crofton Diving Corp., W. F. Magann Corp., Precon Marine, Inc., Chesapeake Bay Diving, Inc., Seaward Marine Corp, and Oceaneering International, Inc. These companies are donating their time and resources on Saturday, April 17, 2010 to clean the floor of the Elizabeth River off Town Point Park in downtown Norfolk as part of the "1st Annual Town Point Trash Dive" sponsored by Norfolk Festevents. The "Town Point Trash Dive" is inspired by the cleanup efforts of a small seaside community of Smogen, Sweden, where once a year, divers gather together to remove trash from their harbor. The teams of divers use plastic laundry baskets and ropes to remove the marine trash, one basket at a time. From plastic bags, cell phones, tires, and shoes, to chairs and bicycles, and everything in between - these divers have helped influence change in their harbor by creating greater public awareness of what ends up on the river floors due to carelessness and indifference.
Local Festevents volunteer and diver Rosemarie O'Grady brought the idea back home after participating herself in the Swedish dive last year. "The event seemed a perfect fit for our harbor, given all the activity that takes place along the river's edge at Town Point Park" explains Festevents executive director Karen Scherberger. "Rosemarie's firsthand experience and enthusiasm for the project helped us convince our local diving community that it can be done".
Kenny Crofton, President of Crofton Construction and a member of the Festevents Board of Directors, volunteered to organize the local commercial dive companies to provide the trained divers and equipment for this first time event.
"This event is yet another example of the strong sense of volunteerism that that has been a tradition of ours for more than 30 years", according to Scherberger, "and another example of the tremendous support the maritime industry provides to promote and preserve our harbor."
From 10:30 am - 12:30 pm, the public will be invited to observe dive teams haul debris to the surface for a series of prizes including:
- The People's Choice- (most creative and unusual collection of debris)
- Most Volume
- Most Weight
- Most Creative Display of Debris
- And Most Unusual Item
Admission to the "Town Point Trash Dive" is free. Entertainment, information from local environmental organizations and agencies, and food and beverages for purchase will be available throughout the day from 8:30 am - 4pm.