EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The City of El Paso Parks and Recreation Department hopes you celebrate Easter at their locations and take care of the area.

Emilio Gonzalez, the assistant director for Parks and Recreation, says that the department takes good care of keeping the parks clean, and you should too.

“Having people out to visit and use our parks is why we exist. We look forward to the opportunity to serve your needs. Friends and family gather to make good space usage and to enjoy themselves. So what we’re looking for is to give you a clean product to start. If you’ll help us keep it clean going throughout the day and the end of the weekend, we would appreciate that everybody has a chance to enjoy our parks,” Gonzalez said.

With the great temperatures forecasted for Easter, Gonzalez said that they expect a good crowd showing up at various parks and the department will be rolling out extra trash bins.

“We’ve got extra bins out, we’ve got roll-offs out, extra because we anticipate a large amount of debris and trash from people using the park. It’s the first nice weekend holiday of the year. We get lots of turnout, lots of cookouts, lots of activity. As a result we’ve got volunteers working on Sunday to be able to keep the park clean and usable all the way through the event,” he said.

Gonzalez encourages the public not to bring confetti-filled eggs, cascarones, to the parks as they are hard to pick up, taking months to get the small debris off the landscape. He states that every member is involved with cleanup after Easter, which could take up to half a week.

If you plan on cooking up a storm with a grill, Gonzalez asks to practice basic safety rules, such as making sure the grill isn’t in the way of traffic, children don’t bump into it and that the grill is not too close to a table.

Gonzalez says that you take home everything from cookout, especially the hot coals.

“Either the ash or the hot coals that you have left over, transport them and take them home. We don’t have the facility to be able to take care of that for you. Please pick it up and take it home,” he said.

Finally, Gonzalez says guests can enjoy the park as much as they like, as long as they help keep it beautifully clean as well.

“It’s important for us for you to enjoy our parks. Tell us how to do better. We’ll ask you to help out to keep them better. We look forward to a festive and enjoyable season,” he said.

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