Many volunteers will pitch in this weekend to help keep the Tamaqua community clean.

Tamaqua locals will participate in SKIP - Schuylkill County Keep It Pretty - Cleanup this weekend. The official SKIP Cleanup dates are Friday through Sunday, as many organizations and community members in Tamaqua will hit the streets on Saturday.

“We have just about 400 volunteers coming out for the cleanup over three days across the county,” said Darlene Dolzani, executive director of SKIP.

“There are a lot of young people in on it, which is good for the future. I’m happy with everybody that takes the time to participate.”

Tamaqua Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt is the local coordinator, who works in conjunction with Dolzani.

“She gets us supplied and distributes them throughout the county from PennDOT,” Steigerwalt said.

“We have about five distinct groups that are participating in the Tamaqua area, and there is one other individual who signed up who cleans the neighborhood.”

The SKIP cleanups are typically biannual, but it’s yet to be determined if there will be one in the fall season.

“I bring the Boy Scouts and we meet downtown at the Five Points, typically at the M&T Bank parking lot,” Steigerwalt said.

The borough manager said anyone else interested in participating can meet his group at 9 a.m. on Saturday. According to a Facebook post, another group, sponsored by the Tamaqua Board of Health, will meet at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant at noon on Saturday to pitch in.

“You’re going to have a very good turnout in Tamaqua,” said Dolzani. “A few years ago, 10.2 tons of trash was collected countywide over the course of just a few days.”

Dolzani said cleanups have been a part of Schuylkill County since the 1990s.

“All of the garbage gets put by the state highway,” Steigerwalt added.

“If we do it this weekend and we put it by the state highway, next week, PennDOT will come through and pick it up with their dump trucks,” Steigerwalt said.