HOT SPRINGS – This past weekend, Keep Hot Springs Beautiful hosted a pair of ‘spring cleaning’ events throughout town including its annual Great American Cleanup (GAC).
As of Monday, May 5, there had been more than 90 volunteers who worked on the cleanup and collected 50 bags of trash to day. KHSB President Caitlyn Mosset said those numbers may grow as efforts will likely continue this week for some groups whose volunteer efforts are not yet complete.
“With the completion of road construction, we were able to open all routes back up,” Mosset said. “Volunteers cleaned from Sunrise Ridge Campground through town towards Maverick as well as up the bypass towards Bomgaars and all major thoroughfares. In addition to the ‘day of’ citizen volunteers - groups from The Boys & Girls Club, The Rotary, Hot Springs Schools, Vision Source, Hot Springs Chamber, Black Hills Special Services and more adopted Land Routes.”
Mosses said ‘River Routes’ were adopted by Willing Workers 4H, Fall River Fibers, The Kit Carson Club, Two Cows Creamery, Keep Hot Springs Beautiful and Fall River Stewards.
“We had volunteers of all ages from families with littles to older residents with limited mobility,” Mosset said. “GAC lead Lauren Weiss was great about helping volunteers pick routes that worked for their respective abilities.”
The volunteer base for the Great American Cleanup is a “loyal bunch,” Mosset added, with most groups coming back year after year. KHSB provides safety vests, litter grabbers, trash bags, water and snacks and volunteers work to clear their section of litter and debris.
“Once cleared, they leave their trash bags at designated drop points, and the pickup crew comes by in their truck to collect.”
On Monday, May 5, the Hot Springs School District (HSSD) also participated in the cleanup as the Central Admin Office, SRO McMillan, and two school board members cleaned up the HSSD campus.
“We filled roughly 12 bags of trash,” said Superintendent Dr. Kyley Cumbow, as she described how the dirt parking lot was the winner with the most trash.
In addition to the GAC event, which had a signup on Saturday morning in Centennial Park, KHSB also hosted a Super Recycling event at the Mueller Center. Mosset said they didn’t have number yet from Pacific Steel in regards to how much was donated but it was several loads.
“We took 2024 off from Super Recycling due to poor turnout in 2023 but thankfully turnout was excellent in 2025,” Mosset said. “Four KHSB volunteers worked with five employee volunteers from Pacific Steel in Rapid City to collect metal and electrical recycling material. In addition to the two roll off dumpsters brought by Pacific Steel, volunteers also filled two trailers provided by volunteers and two pickup beds.”
Items that can be brought to this event include motors, radiators, vacuum cleaners, Christmas lights, appliances, electronics, sheet metal and more. Everything collected on Saturday will be recycled and thus stays out of the landfill.
“It’s a fun event and we are grateful for the crew at Pacific Steel for their continued support of this program,” Mosset concluded.