As winter thaws into spring, the world gets busy with the sounds of balls hitting baseball bats, tennis rackets and the back of the net off a boot.

And that’s not to forget the many events on and off the track. That’s where my office was Wednesday afternoon, in the beautiful sun, finally getting a chance to enjoy some warm weather.

It was the first time in more than a decade that Franklin High School had hosted a track meet. And from what I could gather, it had been a successful one — though with as many schools as were there, it was probably more of an invitational than a traditional meet.

Though I had done track-related stories before, it was my first time to actually make it to a track meet. The atmosphere was unique, as outside of football, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen so many people at a high school sporting event before. It was also hectic as a photographer, as many events were happening at once. And I wanted to be at all of them at the same time. But of course, I haven’t invented teleportation just yet, so I was stuck with getting what I could, which turned out to be a lot. There was really never a dull moment, as when something was paused, there would be another event just a few footsteps away.

I would definitely recommend that people go check it out the next time a meet is hosted there, which happens to be on Wednesday, April 30 at 4 p.m. There will also be one scheduled to be in Windsor on Wednesday, April 9.

It’s also nice that the community had come together to create the track. Principal Travis Felts had said that Franklin High School could have never had a track if it not been for support from the community, and it was good to see people come together for this.

Jeff Turner is putting together an event next weekend that he does every year: the Clean Rivers Day.

Turner, the Blackwater and Nottoway Riverkeeper, will encourage people to fan out into the rivers and streams to clean up the trash that’s clogging its arteries. Of course, if you can’t go out onto the river, it also helps to clean up the streets, parking lots and ditches. As, of course, all of that debris is destined for the rivers. As soon as a major storm hits, the stormwater will carry it to where it drains — the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers.

Keeping the community beautiful and the rivers safe for wildlife is an easy cause to get behind.

I’m sure I’ll be out taking pictures, and I also can easily see myself out there lending a hand while I’m at it. But remember, what seems impossible with just one person is something that’s easy to do in a matter of a few hours when you get a concentrated group together.

So please, come out and support the Riverkeeper in his effort to keep the river’s clean. It’ll be worth the effort.

CAIN MADDEN is the managing editor of The Tidewater News. He can be contacted at 562-3187 or cain.madden@tidewaternews.com