Virginia Citizens Left Outraged as Local Beach Flooded with Trash after Memorial Day

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the annual Floatopia event occurred on Chic Beach in Virginia. However, on Monday morning a major cleanup operation had to be undertaken to clear out all the trash.

Floatopia is a beach event that celebrates the unofficial start to summer. Chris Kane, a Chic’s Beach resident had this to say about the event: “It’s a big party. It gets bigger every year.”

Kane recalled: “Wall to wall people, wall-to-wall fun, lots of music, lots of dancing.” However, this year the partygoers left behind a lot of trash that upset some Virginia residents.

A major cleanup initiative had to happen to clear up the 10 tons of trash which were left behind after the Memorial Day weekend event. A resident took a video of the beach after the crowd had left.

“Y’all really went to floatopia and left our beaches like this? Shame on you."

The clip showed the beach sand littered with various items. The video quickly went viral on social media causing a huge reaction and anger among the community.

Drew Lankford from the City of Virginia Beach Public Works Department described the items left behind saying there was: “All kinds of garbage, trash, bottles, towels, pieces of clothing, mats, cans.” He chastised: “You know, it’s not a whole lot of effort to clean up after yourself.”

On Tuesday morning, the city released a statement stating how "disappointed" they were to see the condition of the beach after the event. The statement continued: “However, thanks to the swift and thorough work of our Beach Operations crew, the beach is once again clean, and more than 10 tons of trash and debris has been cleared away. Our sincere thanks goes out to those citizens who helped pitch in to clean up as well.”

They concluded:

“We’ve had several individuals ask about regular volunteer opportunities to help with beach clean-up, and anyone interested in getting involved is encouraged to contact Michael Moore at MTMoore@VBgov.com or 757-385-2080.”

Comparing the mess left behind to previous years Lankford said: “Not that bad. We’ve had some problems and it’s been heavier than usual but this was probably the worst.” A crew of just nine people from Virginia Beach Public Works cleaned up the trash.

On Monday Councilman Michael Berlucchi shared an image of the dirty beach writing:

“I was disappointed to wake up this morning to see images of trash all over our beautiful Chesapeake Bay beach after Sunday’s festivities. We can do better than this! Let’s work together to keep our City beautiful and clean.”

Sierra Taylor posted two images on Twitter of the beach before the cleanup. She commented: “Y’all really went to floatopia and left our beaches like this? Shame on you."

Now for some positive and uplifting news, the former late President George H. W. Bush's service dog, Sully, paid tribute to him and other fallen soldiers on Memorial Day. The yellow Labrador retriever was pictured sitting next to the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D. C.