Beauty in Biloxi.

The Great American Cleanup event happens every year in communities around the nation, but this year's campaign has special meaning here in Mississippi. With a goal of helping to beautify the hurricane-ravaged coast, Keep America Beautiful held its national Great American Cleanup kickoff ceremony in Biloxi in March.

More than 750 volunteers from around the country converged on the Town Green along with blues performers and marching bands for the kickoff before spreading out to work in four designated cleanup zones in Biloxi. In Glennon Guice Park, volunteers replanted the Purple Heart Memorial Garden and restored a fountain and Moby Dick sculpture. City and county officials and military personnel pitched in to clean up an area by Edgewater Mall and along the shore. Another group of volunteers spent their day at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Elementary School, where they replanted school gardens and removed debris from the surrounding neighborhood. And at the Town Green itself, national sponsor Troy-Bilt led volunteers in restoring grass, planting flowers, and creating a community reading garden.

Now in its 21st year, the Great American Cleanup mobilizes volunteers each spring to clean, beautify, and improve their communities. The 2006 cleanup campaign is expected to draw some 2.5 million volunteers in all 50 states.

Collaborators for the Biloxi program included Keep Mississippi Beautiful/PAL, the city, and the Harrison County Beautification Commission.

Great American Cleanup activities will continue through May 31 and will involve additional debris removal and tree plantings, disposal of electronic debris, educational programs, and seashore litter cleanup. To get involved, see www.kab.org or call Keep Mississippi Beautiful at 601/853-4441.