PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Volunteers say Springside Park has generally gotten cleaner over the years.

On Tuesday, the Parks Commission approved the Springside Park Conservancy and the Friends of Springside Park's annual cleanups on April 19 and Sept. 20. Longtime members Bernard Mack and Esther Anderson gave a positive report about the park's upkeep.

"The park has been getting cleaner and cleaner every year, which is very exciting to see that people are taking more interest in keeping it that way," Mack said.

"And a lot of other things have been happening at the park, which we're happy about as well, improvements and such."

He reported that 25 years ago, the volunteers used to find parts of cars "and an old Chevy Vega I remember seeing." They are now finding smaller debris such as paper, cans, and bottles.

"We found sheet rock, we found construction debris, and people left their furniture, and people were dumping their chairs. That has completely decreased," he reported.

"Of course, with the COVID situation and the campers that were in there, we found vacant campsites and some camping materials but nothing like construction material or any that kind of stuff that people just using it as their dump."

Anderson added that 10 years ago, they were still taking tires out of the park.