The annual beach sweep at Rutherford Beach in Creole was back for 2022, with the last being held in 2019. The Beach Sweep was held on Saturday, Sept. 17.
Kevin Savoie and his team with the Cooperative Extension Service who has coordinated this event for the past thirty years, handed over the reins to the Cameron Parish Beachfront Development District #2.
Approximately 2 miles of Rutherford Beach was cleaned by 32 adults and 15 children in participation of the International Coastal Clean Up. The volunteers picked up 95 bags of trash and many other assorted large items like tent frames, drums, plastic buckets, and construction debris.
Tina Payne, with the Rockin’ Rutherford Group, presented an awareness program that day. She said that Sea Turtles are often found washed up on beaches and most autopsies of their stomachs, reveal plastic or rubber items with “bite marks” on them. As the sea turtles find the soft plastic or rubber floating out in the water, they will take bites of them usually causing their death.
Three collection contests were held with the most collected flip-flops, bottle caps, and items found with a turtle bite. Gift Cards of $25 were presented to the winners. The participants accumulated a total of 107 flip-flops; 2323 bottle caps; and 35 items that were bitten by a sea turtle. The most unusual item brought in by participants was a pair of costume rubber front teeth and the winner was presented with a $50 gift card. Five other random door prizes of $25 gift cards were given out.
Lunch consisted of Chili Dogs or Sausage on a Bun, chips, freshly baked cookies, and cold drinks provided by Canik’s Grocery of Creole and served by Venture Global LNG employees and coordinators.
Every participant received a monogrammed beach towel as seen in the picture in the thank you ad on Page 2 taken by Melissa Bonsall and miscellaneous items from the Cameron Parish Tourist Commission.
Volunteer groups included South Cameron and Grand Lake 4-H and FFA, South Cameron Student Council, Rockin’ Rutherford Group, Chi Omega, Starbucks, Venture Global LNG, and Residents of Rutherford Beach, Cameron, Creole, Grand Chenier, and Grand Lake.
Join us next September 2023, as we try to Leave Only Footprints In The Sand!