Editor:

I’m almost sad it’s over. What a great feeling to sweep your eyes over the Eastern Prom (as well as in the eight other local pickup sites) and not see a single piece of trash or poo. I know, it should be like that every day, but let’s just enjoy it while we have it.

This year’s “dump” was phenomenal—60 “stoolies” (scoopers) hauled about 35 big bags of trash out of the East End Trail, East End Beach, Eastern Prom, Munjoy Hill, East Bayside, St. John Valley, Reiche School and Hinckley Park.

Five lucky stoolies found a Golden Turd, which exist only in Portland, Maine, and its sister poop cities, Belfast, Maine, and Charlestown, Massachusetts, where concurrent April Stools’ Day pickups were held.

Each Golden Turd finder this year received a 30-pound bag of Nature’s Variety dog food, a premium quality food that is more digestible and produces less real poop.

A big thank you to all who joined in the scooping party, and especially to the site captains, who made it possible to cover so much ground in two short hours.

April Stools’ Day is a yearly pickup organized by Friends of the Eastern Prom and Fetch. For more information, send an email to

Kathy@fetchportland.com.

Kathy Palmer