MEXICO — More than 100 people gathered Sunday morning as part of a community cleanup effort throughout Rumford and Mexico.

It was damp and a bit chilly following a day of rain, but participants were in goods spirits as they collected trash and debris on local roadways.

This version of the River Valley Community Clean-Up was better organized than last spring’s event, as the organizing committee, led by Lisa Arsenault and Tom Bourret, used a Facebook event page that encouraged people to pre-select areas where they wanted to work.

The resulting groups of volunteers worked together to clean up their neighborhoods. Town employees from both towns helped in the effort, as did local scouts.

There was a large team of adults and children from Oxford Federal Credit Union, most of them wearing bright-green sweatshirts.

The volunteers gathered at 8 a.m. at the staging area, located downstairs at the Mexico Town Hall.

People signed up for the areas where they would be working. They received donated gloves, garbage bags, Poland Spring water and brochures providing safety tips.

After a number of photos were taken, volunteers walked to or got into vehicles and headed to the locations where they would work.

Jamie St. Pierre of Rangeley, an employee of ND Paper, was picking up litter at one end of the footbridge leading to the mill.

She was among a group of mill workers who were cleaning up around the perimeter of ND Paper.

Archie’s Inc. donated two roll-off trash containers — one in each town — to prevent having to haul waste great distances. Mexico’s was behind the Town Hall. Rumford’s was at the Information Center parking lot.

The event concluded with a cookout for the volunteers behind the Mexico Town Hall.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net