Keep Akron Beautiful

We are so grateful to and our amazing Board Chair, Kim Haws-Falasco, for joining us as a Blossom Buff Sponsor again this year for Green the Scene! 🌸

Baird continues to support Keep Akron Beautiful in so many meaningful ways, from their generous sponsorship and partnership to rolling up their sleeves at cleanups and beautification projects, along with providing so many opportunities that help strengthen our mission.

Thank you, Baird, for your continued commitment to keeping Akron beautiful and for supporting our annual fundraiser. We truly appreciate everything you do for our community!

Want to join us at Green the Scene? Tickets are available here: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/greenthescene2026/

Law Enforcement Partner of the Year: Officer Aaron Brown 🌎

As we lead up to Green the Scene, our annual fundraiser celebrating 45 years of Keep Akron Beautiful, we’re excited to spotlight the incredible individuals who will be recognized at this year’s event.

This week, we’re celebrating Officer Aaron Brown, our Law Enforcement Partner of the Year! 👏

If you’ve attended a Keep Akron Beautiful cleanup, community event, or volunteer project over the past several years, chances are you’ve met Officer Brown. While he’s there to help ensure everyone’s safety, you’ll rarely find him standing on the sidelines. More often, you’ll find him picking up litter alongside volunteers, hauling debris, mentoring youth, encouraging community members, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with residents to make Akron a better place.

As an Akron Police Department Community Engagement Team officer, Officer Brown’s commitment extends far beyond individual events. He has built meaningful relationships throughout our city and has become a valued partner in Keep Akron Beautiful’s programs and mission.

His ability to connect with people from all walks of life has helped strengthen neighborhoods, bring people together, and inspire countless volunteers to take pride in their community.

Congratulations, Officer Brown, on being named Keep Akron Beautiful’s Law Enforcement Partner of the Year!

We can’t wait to celebrate you at Green the Scene: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/greenthescene2026/

This past weekend, our Executive Director, Jacqui, had the opportunity to take her kids to the Ohio State Fair, where they experienced an interactive exhibit that made learning about battery recycling both fun and memorable.

The exhibit was designed like the inside of a van or camper, challenging kids to identify all the everyday items that contain batteries. From flashlights and electronic toys to smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, watches, game controllers, key fobs, and wireless headphones, it was a great reminder that batteries aren’t just the AA or AAA ones we can see. They’re hidden inside many of the products we use every day.

The activity sparked important conversations about why it’s so important to recycle batteries properly, especially lithium-ion batteries, instead of throwing them in the trash which can cause fires!

While exploring, they also learned about Woodsy Owl’s iconic message, “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute!” along with his newer reminder, “Skip the Bin, Turn Your Batteries In!” 🦉🔋 These simple messages encourage all of us to take pride in our communities, care for the environment, and do our part to create cleaner, greener spaces.

Teaching children about recycling, litter prevention, and protecting our natural resources today helps create lifelong habits that benefit our communities for years to come.

We also had the chance to stop by and visit our friends at the Ohio EPA booth! It was incredible to see how many Ohioans brought their used batteries to the fair to recycle. Every battery turned in is one less battery in the landfill and one more step toward a cleaner, safer Ohio. 💚♻️

ohioepa Woodsy Owl Ohio State Fair

We are so grateful to and Dawn Gainer, our amazing board member, for joining us as a Flower Fanatic Sponsor again this year for Green the Scene! 🌸

GPD continues to support Keep Akron Beautiful in so many meaningful ways, from their sponsorship and partnership to rolling up their sleeves and participating in cleanups and beautification projects around their headquarters on S. Main.

Thank you, GPD, for your continued commitment to keeping Akron beautiful and for supporting our annual fundraiser. We truly appreciate all that you do for our community!

Want to join us at Green the Scene? Tickets are available here: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/greenthescene2026/

The ABCs of Trees - final letter!!!🌳

Trees aren’t just vital for us today, they’re essential for future generations.

By educating our community now, we’re helping inspire the next generation of tree stewards who will care for, protect, and benefit from these trees for years to come.

Each week, we’ll highlight a new letter of the alphabet, sharing a tree-related word and what it means because understanding trees helps us better appreciate and care for them.

This week’s letter is Z for Zoophilous: An ecological term for plants and trees that rely on animals (such as birds, bats, or mammals) for pollination.

A huge thank you to Barberton Tree Service Inc. for taking us through the whole alphabet of trees and being such an incredible partner and collaborator in our mission to keep Akron clean, green, and beautiful. 🌿

🌸 Beautiful Blooms Worth the Stop! 🌸

If you're out and about in Akron, keep an eye out for some of our favorite Flowerscape locations! Our crew has been hard at work creating colorful spaces that make our city a little brighter.

📍 Be sure to check out:

- City Hall & Charles Goodyear Park
- Thornton & Dart
- Akron Children's Hospital (Exchange Street)

Whether you're driving by or taking a stroll, we hope you'll enjoy these beautiful blooms. Snap a photo, soak in the scenery, and celebrate some of the beauty growing right here in Akron!

Keep Akron Beautiful is proud to announce the 2026 Green the Scene Honorees!

As we celebrate 45 years of serving our community, we're honored to recognize three remarkable individuals whose dedication has helped make Akron cleaner, greener, and stronger.

🌟 Sterling Duncan – Volunteer of the Year
🌟 Officer Aaron Brown – Inaugural Law Enforcement Partner of the Year
🌟 Judge Joy Malek Oldfield – Inaugural Community Impact Award

Join us on Thursday, August 27 at the Akron Art Museum as we celebrate these incredible community champions and 45 years of Keep Akron Beautiful.

🎟️ Tickets are available at keepakronbeautiful.org.


Akron Police Department Judge Joy Malek Oldfield

A huge thank you to everyone who joined today to help clean up N. Main and the surrounding neighborhood! Volunteers filled up their Keep Akron Beautiful bags and made a big difference in just a few hours. 🗑️✨

A special shoutout to Virginia Lee and Councilman Johnnie Hannah for organizing this cleanup and bringing the community together.

We are so grateful to every volunteer who showed up, pitched in, and helped make North Hill a cleaner, more beautiful place. 💚

Interested in organizing a cleanup in your own neighborhood? We provide everything you need to get started, including litter grabbers, trash bags, gloves, hand sanitizer, and safety vests. All you have to do is gather your friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors, and we’ll help you make a difference. Reach out to us to get your cleanup supplies and start creating a cleaner Akron! ♻️

A huge thank you to the incredible team at VanDevere Automotive Family for spending the morning helping make Akron a cleaner, more beautiful place!

From 8:30 a.m. until noon, these awesome volunteers worked tirelessly picking up litter along Vernon Odom, Frederick Boulevard, McTaggert Drive, Hawkins Avenue, and the surrounding areas. Their dedication and hard work made a tremendous impact, and we are so grateful for their commitment to our community.

A very special thank you goes to Donna, apart of the VanDevere family but also a wonderful friend of Keep Akron Beautiful, for organizing this entire cleanup day. Your continued support and passion for giving back mean so much to us, and we truly couldn’t do this work without partners like you.

Thank you, VanDevere, for helping keep Akron beautiful! 🚙🗑️♻️