Keep Johnson City Beautiful (KJCB) is hosting the fourth annual Johnson City Beautification Day on March 28, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will be in partnership with Volunteer ETSU, ETSU Department of Sustainability, Young Professionals of Johnson City, Visit Johnson City and Meet the Mountains Festival.
Beautification Day is a focused day for picking up litter throughout Johnson City to beautify and enhance the area while also educating volunteers on sustainability efforts. The volunteers will go out into different assigned areas in Johnson City and reconvene for a free group lunch afterwards.
“We’ve noticed that over the years, in some of those routes, the litter has actually decreased because one of the things with litter is that if an area looks littered, people are more likely to continue to litter,” said Andrew McElroy, executive director for KJCB. “By beautifying some of these spots, we’ve noticed that the litter actually has gone down over the years and we’ve had to change up where we’re picking up litter because those places are looking better.”
This past year, Beautification Day had 135 volunteers who were able to collect over 1,500 pounds of litter across 14 different sites in Johnson City. Out of that, they were able to recycle around 150 pounds of material that was sorted through.
KJCB also works with its sustainability partners to educate through their events. While Beautification Day and other similar volunteer events and pick-up days offer an opportunity for the community to come together to make the city cleaner, McElroy emphasized that anyone can make a difference on any day by acts that may feel small.
“Anybody can do this on any Saturday, any time that you have an hour free or even if you’re just walking through your neighborhood or walking across campus, you can be that person that picks something up and makes it a little more beautiful in that area,” said McElroy. “And now, you’re impacting the environment in a bigger way than people don’t necessarily realize, because litter does travel. It’s just about helping people understand that taking those two seconds to pick up something really does make an impact and helps keep our community beautiful.”
This year, KJCB is focusing on amplifying sustainability and cleanup events in the area, including events hosted by other organizations they have partnered with. All events can be found on their website or on their Instagram @keepjohnsoncitybeautiful.
Volunteer ETSU and ETSU Serves also promote other opportunities for students, faculty and staff to get involved in the community.
Students can sign up for Beautification Day at etsu.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=1210029.
