Our View: It ain't pretty, but winter is receding

The signs of spring abound: the sun is shining longer; the snow is melting; people are out and about; summer is on its way.

Another sure sign of spring is a winter’s worth of debris, litter, and road sand revealing itself as the snow recedes. Spring cleaning can’t be too far away.

We encourage those of us who spend time in the city parks and public spaces to do their part to tidy up and get ready for warmer weather.

In Cloquet, city crews will start cleaning the parks and sweeping the roads, as early as next week, maybe, according to engineer Caleb Peterson.

“That’s assuming we don’t have another sanding event,” he told us this week, alluding to the strange weather that has made it necessary in the past to salt and sand the roads as late as April. It was snowing on Wednesday as this issue of the Pine Knot News was going to press. But it isn’t expected to stick.

Forecasts show it’s looking pretty good to get started on cleanup soon, Peterson told us.

The Boldt Company is organizing a spring cleaning event for early May, we hear, where volunteers will be tidying the parks and playgrounds to get them ready for summer use. Hopefully, many of us will participate and help get the city grounds looking great.

In the meantime, keep a lookout for hazards left over after the winter thaw. You may unexpectedly encounter broken glass, or shredded cans, even discarded hypodermic needles on occasion, that may have been buried in snow for months. Keep an eye on your kids and your pets to keep them away from such litter. And remember that many people don’t bother to clean up after their pets all winter — those frozen chunks start melting and can contain bacteria and parasites that aren’t safe.

It’s generally a good idea to stay out of fields that are still soft and mushy, and to keep your shoes on, for now.

Soon, the streets will be clean, the fields will be dry, and the parks will be fresh, and we’ll enjoy one large part of the reason we stay here in Carlton County: Summer.