VOORHEESVILLE — Susan Balmaceda has lived right near the downtown business district of Voorheesville since she was 2 — fifty-four years ago, she said.

“I used to go down with my friends to play around the old Grove Hotel, even though my mother told me not to,” she said.

Now she and her neighbor Jennifer Mizener, whose husband owns Mizener Contracting, were showing their support for the village by picking up trash from around Grove Street.

“I hope they make it an annual thing,” said Mizener.

The turnout for the Voorheesville Green Clean on April 18 — which was publicized as the “first annual” event of its kind — was estimated by village Deputy Clerk Treasurer Karen Finnessey, one of the organizers, to be about 110.

This included both people working in the cleanup efforts and also those staffing the recycling collection areas. Finnessey noted that several larger groups were also included within this 110, such as firefighters, garden club members, crews from the two local Adopt-A-Highway groups, and “lots of Brownies, Girl Scouts, and their parents.”

Small groups of people wearing white T-shirts reading “Voorheesville First Annual Village Green Clean: A Community Event to Celebrate Earth Day” and armed with grabbers and bags, could be seen here and there along roadsides and in parks throughout the village.

The event also featured a large-scale recycling effort, and in the parking lot of the firehouse were growing mountains of donated items, each in separate areas, for books, clothing (including blankets and stuffed animals), and plastic bags. Finnessey said later that 2,739 pounds of clothing was collected.

Before the start of the event, as participants gathered at the village firehouse to get their assignments, Finnessey handed out T-shirts of every size, from kid to adult. There was even one that was just right for Kelsey, the 6-year-old auburn-colored rescue dog belonging to Jason Duncan of Elite Motors. Kelsey, Duncan, and village resident Mary Flansburg rode out to preview their Grove Street assignment on a golf cart, to see what they might need to bring with them.

Mayor Robert Conway — wearing a Green Clean T-shirt, of course — directed cars into the firehouse parking lot all morning.

“I’ve never seen so many cigarette butts in my life,” said Terri Lukačko as she walked down South Main Street in Voorheesville with three others from Old Songs, stopping to pick up yet another butt, with gloved fingers. “People must not even think of these as litter, the way they just drop them everywhere,” she said.

Organizers had several goals in holding the event, according to one of them, Amanda Scalzo, owner of Purity Hair Design. In addition to a large-scale spring cleaning and sprucing up of the village, the event was also intended to bring the community together to complete a project with a shared goal and to shine a spotlight on businesses.

The cleanup itself ran from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

From noon to 2 p.m., food and drink was available at the firehouse for all participants, and there were also activities for kids and adults such as face painting, coloring, and a balloon pop.

Fourteen local business provided prizes for the balloon pop.  These included a pizza from Brickhouse Pizza, a $15 gift certificate from Phillips Hardware, an eyebrow wax from Purity Hair Design, and a car wash brush from TJ’s Auto & Truck Parts.

The other members of the organizing committee were, in addition to Scalzo and Finnessey, Kaela Knoth of NAPA and Kaitlin Lyons of Lyons Building and Consulting.

All the proceeds from the event, Scalzo noted, will go to the Helderview Garden Club, to help in its work of planting and maintaining the gardens at Hotaling Park.

Surveying the scene at the firehouse after the cleanup, as people ate hotdogs and bought balloon pop tickets, Scalzo said, “Hopefully this will be the start of an annual event that will get people to come out with their families.”

More on the green scene

Upcoming local events to clean or recycle include:

— On April 25 in Altamont, Altamont Community Tradition will sponsor its annual Green and Clean, starting at 9 a.m. in Orsini Park. Under the direction of village gardeners, residents will work from 9 a.m. to noon to spruce up the village’s parks. Residents are welcome to come for the whole time or for as long as they are available; they are asked to bring rakes, work gloves, and wheelbarrows. For more information, call Marc Smith, ACT president, at 209-7273;

— Also on April 25, in Guilderland, there will be a spring “Recycling Extravaganza” at the Farnsworth Middle School, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The collection site will be in the rear parking lot of the school. The event is open to residents and nonresidents of the district. Individuals are encouraged to bring their unwanted papers, plastics (including bags), electronics, and bikes for free drop-off and reuse or recycling. There will also be a garage sale at Farnsworth from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with proceeds to fund the Butterfly Project and Organic Garden. For more information, call 861-5246, ext. 338, or see www.guilderlandschools.org; and

—  On May 2 in New Scotland, the Town Wide Volunteer Day is a “neighbors helping neighbors” event. Volunteers will help with light chores, yard work, and other small projects for elderly people or people with disabilities. In addition, volunteers will clean up areas of Vly Creek, improve conditions at local cemeteries, and plant flowers at community locations that honor seniors and past volunteers. This event is co-sponsored by the town of New Scotland and the New Scotland Kiwanis Club. For more information call 765-4582 or search “New Scotland Town Wide Volunteer Day” on Facebook.