Photos: South Orange River Day 2012

Members of the South Orange community came out in force on Sunday for the town's annual River Day.  The event is where residents don their golashes and head into the river to clean up the trash that has accumulated in the past year.  There was also a wide variety of environment and nature-related activities and attractions for the attendees.

"We want to prevent people from throwing trash on the streets, which gets washed down into the river when it rains," said James McGowan, chairman of South Orange River Day and member of the South Orange Environmental Commission.  "The real enemy is plastic.  Plastic is forever, it never goes anywhere.  Anything on the streets or sidewalks falls into the storm drain and floats straight to the ocean."

Among the displays offered this year were drawings and plans for the next phase of South Orange's River Greenway project, the New Jersey Watershed Ambassadors Program had a display on how water pollution works and the South Orange Seaport Society presented a model boat FUN float.

A walking tour of the river was given by Dr. Kirk Barrett and an edible plants tour was given by Jeff Jotz and Dan Lipow.

The South Orange Maplewood Bike Coalition held a bike tour and Seton Hall University will hold an Ultimate Frisbee clinic.  Used bicycles were collected for donation to the Newark Bike Exchange. 

Among the musical acts that performed were Jay Dougherty, The Company Kept & Friends, Ian Kensaleer and Youth Orchestras of Essex County.

Did you attend South Orange River Day?  Comment below and let us know what you thought.  Also post any pictures above.