NORCO – Wetland Watchers Park will celebrate its grand opening beginning at noon Oct. 2, with a ribbon cutting ceremony, food booths and a special performance by fiddler Amanda Shaw. The public is invited.

In keeping with the park’s focus on environmental restoration, the parish’s fall Trash Bash roadside litter cleanup event will also occur that morning from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Residents are urged to volunteer to help beautify the parish for the many outdoor activities planned through the end of the year.

Wetland Watchers Park is located directly to the east of the Bonnet Carre Spillway’s Lower Guide Levee on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Shaw will begin playing at noon, and the ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. Officials will also dedicate the Dow Palmetto Outdoor Classroom. Phase one of the 28-acre facility features a grand pavilion and 900-foot-long nature trail, outdoor classroom, picnic pavilions, an armored shoreline and blacktop roadways. An additional phase is planned.

All proceeds from sales and other fundraising activities at the event will help south Louisiana residents and wildlife affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Trash Bash is great way for students to gain service hours required by their schools or organizations. Volunteers will decide which areas they wish to clean, and they are asked to prepare for working outside by bringing water and other needed supplies. Volunteers and the general public are invited to attend the Wetland Watchers Park grand opening afterwards.

Those interested volunteering for Trash Bash should contact Chandra Sampey of the Contract Monitor’s Office at 985-764-1207 to arrange a time to pick up cleaning supplies. Residents can also sign up online at www.scptrashbash.org.

For more information on the Wetland Watchers Park event, call 985-783-5182 or visit www.wetlandwatchers.org.

In March, more than 250 volunteers filled approximately 229 garbage bags with 9,160 pounds of garbage over 69 miles of roadway in conjunction with the Trash Bash Great American Cleanup event.