AUBURN – More than 100 volunteers spanned the city Saturday in what’s hoped to be an annual cleanup.

“It went very well,” said co-organizer Ed Desgrosseilliers. “We had a little less than expected, about 125 people, but still an excellent crowd,”

Members of the Snow Gypsies snowmobile club fanned out on Mt. Apatite to clear the hiking trail and remove trash.

Members of the Optimist Club cleaned the trail that runs from Minot Avenue to Edward Little High School. They picked up trash, raked the garden area and spruced it up, Desgrosseilliers said. “It looks nice,”

In New Auburn, Ray Berube headed a group of 12 who raked and cleaned Raymond Park.

Another group, including Desgrosseilliers, picked up trash and debris for a mile on each side of busy Washington Street.

“City Manager Glenn Aho was with us,” Desgrosseilliers said. “He dragged tires out of a gully. One place, there was a half a dozen tires dumped there.”

Most of the volunteers were adults, but some young people also participated. One mother from Poland brought her two sons who are in Boy Scout Troop 139.

The Auburn Police Department had planned to hold a graffiti cleanup next week, but instead did their graffiti cleanup Saturday to coincide with the larger cleanup, Desgrosseilliers said.

“We still have a lot to do,” Desgrosseilliers said. “We’re encouraging people who would like to do this to continue on.”

People who contact the Auburn Public Works Department will be given cleanup kits that contain safety vests, trash bags and gloves.

Volunteers included residents, city officials, police and firefighters, school employees, businesspeople and environmentalists.

The event was created by members of the city’s Waste Management Advisory Committee, working in conjunction with L/A Trails, the Auburn Land Lab, the city firefighters’ union, police, the Recreation Department, schools, Great Falls TV, Keller Williams Realty and Key Bank.