{"id":284760,"date":"2025-10-07T20:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T20:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/284760\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T20:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T20:50:11","slug":"volunteers-sought-for-oct-18-main-street-clean-up-effort-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/284760\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers sought for Oct. 18 Main Street clean up effort \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Bidegain is hoping Ramona residents will join him in his efforts to \u201cMake Ramona Clean Again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Volunteers are asked to sign up ahead of time for the Saturday, Oct. 18 event, which will have residents cleaning up as much of the town as they can, beginning on Main Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year I\u2019m doing it in anticipation of Merchant\u2019s Trick or Treat on Main and the Witch\u2019s Walk,\u201d said Bidegain, owner of Reds, Whites & Brews on Main. \u201cI\u2019d like Main Street to look clean and nice for the kids and everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those willing to help should let Bidegain know what kind of cleaning supplies they can bring, such as shovels, leaf blowers, brooms or heavy-duty trash bags, as well as their T-shirt size. Volunteers can email their information to: info@redswhitesandbrews.wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cleaning crew will meet at 6:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Reds, Whites & Brews for free coffee, hot chocolate and donuts. A \u201csafety green\u201d souvenir T-shirt commemorating the event will be given to the first 50 volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cleanup takes place from 7 to 9 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the cleanup, Bidegain plans to hand out prizes in the parking lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every year, to sweeten the pot, Bidegain spends hours hitting the street and talking to all the merchants and business owners he can in an effort to secure donated prizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a biggggg extravaganza giveaway,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the last event, we had so many donations that everyone who participated got a prize.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA small sample of some of the many volunteer prizes to be awarded at the conclusion of this year\u2019s \u201cMake Ramona Clean Again\u201d event. (Courtesy Peter Bidegain)<\/p>\n

This year, he is expecting to hit his goal of at least 50 prizes, and maybe even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t thank the merchants enough for supporting this effort,\u201d Bidegain said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got all kinds of fun stuff piling up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Zawilenski said he has swept the streets of Ramona \u201cmany a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The immediate past president of the Ramona Chamber of Commerce said that even though he has worked with a number of organizations around town, Bidegain\u2019s event stands out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, no one really does this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unique because Peter is a business owner on Main, but he has the pride of ownership not only for the front of his own business store but all of old town Ramona.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom pushing a broom to pulling weeds, by cleaning up the empty storefronts, doorways and windowsills, it helps all of the neighbors,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bidegain said the idea of a large-scale cleanup came to him back in 2017, after a friend of his from Arizona came out to visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to take him out to dinner at a restaurant on Main Street, but as we walked along the sidewalk, my buddy pointed out to me how dirty things were around town,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

As the friend mentioned the dirty, unkempt sidewalks, trash in the street and the overgrown trees, Bidegain decided something needed to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just prior to the Ramona Rodeo parade in May of that year, and I kept thinking we can\u2019t have the parade and all everyone notices is the dirty sidewalks and curbs,\u201d Bidegain said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That year, he put together the first \u201cMake Ramona Clean Again\u201d event, which \u201ctook off like a wildfire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The only cancellation for the event was in 2020, the year the pandemic hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Pat Frei lives in Rancho San Diego, where he takes care of his elderly mother, he will be participating for the first time in the cleaning efforts.<\/p>\n

He and Bidegain have known each other for years \u2014 Frei has worked at Bidegain\u2019s car stereo installation business, Pacesetter Stereo, since the 1990s, and now works at Reds, Whites & Brews three days a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe days I work at the bar, I do all the cleaning up front and on the patio. With all the cars driving by, a lot of dirt gets thrown up on the sidewalks and buildings,\u201d Frei said. \u201cI think the best thing we can do is get out there once a year and clean that stuff up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frei has another reason for wanting to keep Ramona clean \u2014 he hopes to move there some day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing about Ramona, starting with Peter\u2019s bar, is being able to listen to so much music,\u201d he said. \u201cThe music venues are really close to each other and it\u2019s fun to go back and forth listening to the music. I just love the fact that you can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zawilenski and Frei are ready to do whatever Bidegain wants done on cleaning day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you live in Ramona, you love Ramona and if you love Ramona, being able to do something for our town is always very rewarding,\u201d Zawilenski said.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact Peter Bidegain at Reds, Whites and Brews, 629 Main Street, or call 760-440-9305. Hours are Mondays from 5 to 9:30 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 10 p.m., Fridays from 3 to 11 p.m., Saturdays from 4 to 11 p.m., Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. and closed Tuesdays.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peter Bidegain is hoping Ramona residents will join him in his efforts to \u201cMake Ramona Clean Again.\u201d\u00a0 Volunteers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":284761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,15027,82830,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-284760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-ramona-sentinel","12":"tag-ramona-sentinel-news","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}