JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Today was Beautification Day in downtown Johnson City. It was the first time the community has participated in the event presented by ETSU, Meet the Mountains, and Visit Johnson City.

Nathan Farnor, the coordinator for Leadership and Civic Engagement at ETSU helped organize the event.

“Of course, we’re thankful for the city itself for providing some of the space, food catered by salad works, lots of nonprofit partners and different groups that can really help to make this possible,” said Farnor.

The event took place at King Commons Park in downtown Johnson City with almost one hundred volunteers cleaning up the city.

Allie Bynum was one volunteer that came out.

“Just coming out to make sure our public places are clean and welcoming to all,” said Bynum. “It really hits at my root, at my core.”

Volunteers were split into 14 groups to pick up trash in designated areas of the city. Farnor reached out to the community to find what areas needed the most attention.

“We actually reached out to the city and said, what are some places that are neglected? What are the places that maybe your staff don’t have time to work on?,” said Farnor. “Or what are some areas that due to whatever reasons or factors tend to have a lot of littering and garbage come up, what are those locations? So we want to tackle those big projects.”

Beautification day in Johnson City had a positive turnout.

“But I think this idea of a city or even a regional clean up that involves lots of partners, lots of nonprofits, lots of volunteers from across the region,” said Farnor. “This is the first time we’ve done something like that, and I think we’ve proved that it’s successful and we need more things like this.”

Alan Edwards, part of the Young Professionals group came out to volunteer and clean up the city he loves.

“This town’s given me a lot, so being able to give back to the community, that means the most to me,” said Edwards. “If that’s picking up trash or helping somebody. Absolutely. I’m going to do it.”

Organizers hope to make Beautification Day an annual event.