Dozens of Lytton children and youths marked World Rivers Day Sunday by cleaning up the Thompson River's shoreline and enduring its rapids on motor rafts.

World Rivers Day, first created in the province as B.C. Rivers Day and later adopted in other countries, falls on Sept. 27 and is generally observed with river cleanups.

Brooke Haller, a teacher at Lytton elementary school, said Meghan Fandrich of Kumsheen River Rafting approached her to arrange the trip. The day involved a rafting run from Spences Bridge to Lytton with stops in between to collect garbage.

“I took about 17 elementary school kids and the rest were high school,” said Haller.

Most of the participating students came from Haller's own Grade 6/7 class, although some came from younger grades. Several helpers from Kumsheen secondary school rounded out her group.

Despite Haller's relationship to many of the young garbage collectors, the rafting journey was not an official field trip. “I did it as a Lytton youth event ‘cause the school district doesn't do anything high risk,” she explained.

The work party got an additional shot of screaming, youthful exuberance from about 20 young members of the Skuppah reserve.

“It was actually Brooke's husband (Ryan) who's the co-ordinator there,” said Fandrich, making organizing the two groups easier. “I knew they were excited about rafting so they could get their kids excited about rafting.”

Kumsheen resort staff members and guests made up the rest of the work party. According to Braden Fandrich, Meghan's brother (parents Bernie and Lorna founded the rafting business), a rafting guide organized Kumsheen's first Thompson cleanup about 10 years ago “because he hated seeing trash on the side of the river.”

Since then, Kumsheen employees have volunteered each year to gather trash from the shorelines on the last weekend of September, which coincides with the end of the resort's season.

However, Maya Chang, Kumsheen's marketing director, said, “This is the first time it's been open to the public.”

“And the first time there was nice weather,” added Fandrich.

Chang estimated that there were about 80 members of the work party in total.

The volunteers spent the late morning and early afternoon, each raft landing several times to pick up garbage between Spences Bridge and Nicomen House, where they ate lunch. B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner joined the group for the meal and boarded a raft for the Nicomen House-to-Lytton leg of the trip.

On the shores, they found bottles, tires and other car parts (including the hood of a bus), cables, cages, barrels, and more, dumping their finds in garbage cans on the rafts.

Much of the debris clearly came from railways lining the river, including metal beams, poles, and rail spikes. Some items were too heavy to carry on the rafts. The debris was unloaded at lunch.

Braden Fandrich said last year a cannonball was recovered. This year, a portable toilet that appeared to have fallen from a CN work site was the winning discovery.

“Definitely the outhouse is a special find this year,” said Meghan Fandrich.

Haller agreed. She said of her students, “They really wanted to stay and pick up the port-a-potty.” Kumsheen's own staff volunteers collected the prize find.

After the meal, the rafters were soaked and soaked again in the rapids between Nicomen House and Lytton, passing such colourfully named sites as the Devil's Kitchen and the Fluffy Bunny.

All told, the volunteers collected a trailer and truck bed of garbage.

Chang said, “We'd definitely love to have the same response if not bigger” from the public next year.