700 volunteers pick up trash after Fourth fireworks

With a 2-year-old strapped to his back, Hiroshi Fujita and his 8-year-old daughter combed through gravel near Seattle's Gas Works Park Monday morning, tossing trash from Sunday's fireworks fest into a yellow bag. Across the street, his wife and 6-year-old daughter did the same.

The new transplants from Yokohama, Japan, celebrated their first American Independence Day here this year. And, Fujita said, it was only right for them to help with the next day's cleanup.

"Cleaning should be part of the event," said Fujita, 37. "It's good for the environment."

Around Lake Union on Monday, more than 700 volunteers dressed in Starbucks-sponsored T-shirts used trash-grabber tools to help tidy the areas and neighborhoods that bear the yearly brunt of Fourth of July crowds and parties.

Starbucks — along with CleanScapes, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and Seattle Public Utilities — coordinated the event, which grew out of the community-based efforts to save the fireworks this year, said Stacey Krum, Starbucks spokeswoman.

Now-defunct Washington Mutual had sponsored the fireworks show since 2002, and its successor JPMorgan Chase agreed to fund the event just for one year, 2009. When organizer One Reel couldn't find another big sponsor, it announced the show would be canceled this year, prompting local chef Tom Douglas and KIRO-FM radio host Dave Ross to launch a community funding drive. They raised enough money for this year's event in less than 24 hours.

For the after-party cleanup, Starbucks advertised on radio, television and Facebook and got nearly 1,100 people to sign up online, Krum said. That more than half showed up exceeded their expectations, she said.

While city crews and others are responsible for collecting garbage from the lake and the park, "there hasn't been a community effort like this for land cleanup," she said. "I think this will be the start of a great tradition."

At a check-in station at the Center for Wooden Boats, Starbucks had coffee, pastries and boxed lunches for volunteers. Nearby, blue, yellow and black bags were piled into a growing heap that would later be sorted into trash and recyclables by CleanScapes, Krum said.

The amount collected probably won't be known until Tuesday or later this week, she added.

Sisters Jodi and Rachael Smith said they saw a call for volunteers in The Stranger and felt compelled to pitch in because every year they see how much trash is left behind after the fireworks.

"I'd never thought about [helping] before because I'd never heard about any event," said Rachael Smith, 25.

Besides, said Jodi Smith, 28, picking up trash isn't that bad — "especially when you have one of those little grabbers."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com