
Sue Dirksen and her mom, Charlette, left, are engaged in weeding the Banner Park in preparation of the upcoming Tree Planting Weekend.
By GEORGE CUSTER/Editor — The leadership within the Uptown Business & Revitalization Association (UBRA) made the decision to span their annual cleanup of 1st Street over two days; Friday and Saturday. It was a wet and dreary Friday. However, it couldn’t have been a much better day on Saturday; warm and mostly sunny.

Toni Wasserman has just finished weeding the entire sidewalk along her block. Great job, Toni!
The Banner Park, having sat dormant all winter, needed the most attention. A heavy percentage of volunteers concentrated their efforts to pulling weeds and planting additions to the park.
With so much rain this spring, weeds had popped up in every nook and cranny along the thoroughfare where the Tree Planting Parade will be held. If there were the tiniest of dirt clod, a weed flourished.

Mick Garvin runs the heavy machinery to trim along a fence in the Uptown District for the UBRA cleanup.
The annual event to spruce up 1st Street goes back to the first years of UBRA’s existence. Not only is the cleanup done to prepare for the parade, it is also to show the pride that the volunteers have in beautifying a part of Oakridge.
Eugene Cathcart, current president of UBRA, stopped to thank the members for attending. The weather was the talk from everyone who was out with gloves, shovels, and spades.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.