Downtown Niles and the Riverfront Park area are looking a lot cleaner this week thanks to the efforts of several volunteers.

On Sunday, approximately 30 people participated in a spring cleanup day spearheaded by Niles native Gary Grathwohl.

From noon to 3 p.m., city residents, merchants, out-of-towners, city officials, kids and others picked up trash downtown and in the popular Niles park that borders the St. Joseph River in Niles.

Niles DDA Main Street Program Manager Lisa Croteau said she loved seeing the community come out to help make Niles a more beautiful place.

“It was really wonderful because it builds ownership from the community for their towns,” she said. “We all need to do it more often. It made everyone feel good. I want to thank everyone who participated.”

Grathwohl, who noticed the need for a cleanup day while walking his dogs in Riverfront Park, said volunteers accomplished a lot in three hours.

“With bodies you can do a lot in a small amount of time,” he said. “We all had a good time and we covered a lot of ground.”

Grathwohl initially drummed up interest for the cleanup day through the Facebook page, “If you grew up in Niles/SW Michigan then you remember what…”

He said there is still plenty of cleaning left to do even after Sunday’s efforts.

“If enough people want to do it again, we will do it again,” he said.