SEATTLE – Now that the Family Fourth fireworks extravaganza is over, the big cleanup begins around Lake Union.
Candy wrappers, beer cans and piles of garbage littered streets around Gas Works Park, where thousands of people packed the area Sunday night to watch the big fireworks display.
In an effort to clean up the debris, hundreds of volunteers turned out the next morning for the 5th of July Lake Union Clean-Up.
Volunteers on foot picked up trash around the lake and about 40 volunteers kayaked around Lake Union to remove trash in the water.
Volunteers like Elizabeth and Sarah Staatz of Shoreline collected some of the hundreds of bags of garbage found by the army volunteers.
"It was kind of gross,” said Elizabeth Staatz.
On the streets the leftovers were mostly from the spectators, and it’s clear the fireworks weren't the only thing smoking.
"A lot of cigarette butts. I want to say like 80 percent cigarette butts," said Andrew Lum, volunteer.
The fireworks show itself also creates a cleanup. After each of those colorful bursts light up the night sky, the remnants rain down on Lake Union.
"On the fifth of July we usually find a lot of cardboard, which is basically the remnants from the fireworks themselves," said Bruce Dean, a cleanup volunteer for the past 10 years.
Dean and his fellow kayakers pull the soggy cardboard from the water before it sinks out of reach. Last year they collected nearly two tons of waterlogged fireworks waste.
Ashley Ellsworth learned about the Starbucks sponsored event via Facebook.
"It make me feels great that everyone's out here helping to keep it clean and keep Seattle clean," she said.
Starbucks and other organizations sponsor the annual day after cleanups. Seattle Public Utilities donated all of the cleanup supplies and CleanScapes will dispose of all the trash and recycling collected throughout the day.
In parks all over town, just plain neighbors are out picking up after others. In West Seattle, residents living near Highland Park spent the day cleaning up the field and park.
"Every year it's been a huge mess and people from other parts of the neighborhood out here blowing up stuff until one or two in the morning making a big mess and our kid comes and plays in this playground," said Greg Winger, neighbor.
Winger said around 80 people were at the park Sunday night setting off illegal fireworks. He said neighbors gathered a couple hundred big boxes of mortars and “four or five dumpsters worth of stuff just strewn out over the whole baseball field.”
And there's another street sweep under way. The Missing Pet Partnership is out looking for dogs that may have been spooked by all the noise and took off.
"When a dog is under stress, their olfactory senses can shut down and they don't navigate the way they would normally," said Jim Branson, Missing Pet Partnership volunteer.
A lot of runaway dogs have already been turned into local shelters and will hopefully be reunited with their owners soon.
As for the cleanup, people say they are all done and are at home enjoying what’s left of the holiday weekend.
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