Canopy Climber Tree Care helps trash the clown “bash the trash” in port huron.

At Canopy Climber Tree Care, our work is usually pretty easy to explain: we take care of trees.

But caring for trees is really just one piece of something much bigger. We care about the places those trees grow, the neighborhoods around them, and the communities we’re lucky enough to call home.

So when Trash the Clown asked for some help with Trash Bash in Port Huron, we were more than happy to bring a dump truck and a couple willing hands.

And we're really glad we did.

Meet Trash the Clown

If you live in the Port Huron area, you may already know Trash the Clown. If you don't, she's worth getting to know.

Trash the Clown is pretty much a local “celebrity” to most of us at this point who has turned picking up trash into an art form, and somehow, she makes it fun.

Dressed in her signature clown attire and makeup, she brings a huge personality and an even bigger heart to the work of making our community a better place. But calling her simply a "trash-picking clown" doesn't really do her justice. She's an artist, an advocate, a community builder, and someone who has created a space where people from all different walks of life can come together.

Her newest venue, The Dumpster, is a perfect example.

It's difficult to describe exactly what The Dumpster is because it's unlike anything else around here. It's part art installation, part community gathering and giving space, part venue, and part wonderfully weird expression of everything Trash the Clown stands for.

And Trash Bash was right at home there.

A Little Friendly Competition Goes a Long Way

The day started with teams gathering to take on a not-so-glamorous challenge: Pick up as much trash as you can.

Teams headed out into the community, filling bags and collecting everything from everyday litter to some truly impressive examples of things people apparently decided they no longer needed. Once the teams returned, the trash was weighed. The more you picked up, the better your chances of taking home one of the 3 cash prizes and trophies, handmade by Trash herself.

And there was plenty to weigh.

We're talking bags and bags of garbage, old tires, washing machines, old trunks, tarps, and plenty of other items that had no business being where they were found. By the end of the event, the amount of trash collected was staggering. A dumpster full of debris. A mountain of tires.

Making Good Things Fun

One of the things we loved most about Trash Bash was the way Trash makes doing something not so glamorous feel like something you actually want to do.

Let's be honest. Nobody wakes up on a Saturday morning thinking, "You know what sounds fun? Picking up somebody else's garbage." But add an eclectic clown who lives off of beans in a dumpster (if you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to keep up with her Facebook more!), some friendly competition, music, food, art, and a whole bunch of people coming together for the same cause?

Now you've got a party. And that's the magic. Trash the Clown has created a positive way to bring people together who might not otherwise cross paths. People who have different backgrounds, different interests, different stories, and different ideas about the world all showed up for the same reason:

They wanted to make their community better.

That's something pretty special.

Why Canopy Climber Cares

At first glance, volunteering a dump truck to pick up trash might seem a little outside the scope of a tree care company. But to us, it isn't.

Sure, our business cares about the environment, but it’s more personal than that. Canopy Climber is a business, but it’s also made up of real people. We work here, raise our families here, drive these roads, enjoy these parks, and share this community with the same people we serve. We’re not separate from the place we do business in. We’re part of it.

We look at trees much the same way we look at our community. They are assets to the places we live, living beings that share our neighborhoods with us and provide an incredible amount in return. They give us shade, clean our air, provide habitat, reduce stormwater, and make our streets and yards more beautiful. But when they’re ignored, they can eventually become an eyesore or even a hazard.

Litter is much the same. Left ignored, it not only becomes an eyesore, it becomes a hazard to our wildlife, our environment, and the people who live here. And over time, that neglect affects more than just the physical space. The condition of a place shapes how people feel about it. When an area is covered in trash, people are less likely to spend time there, visit, invest, or feel proud of where they live. What looks like “just trash” can slowly chip away at the value, pride, and vitality of an entire community.

Someone has to stop and say, “I may not have caused this problem, but I care enough to help make it better.” That’s what Trash the Clown is doing. It’s what we try to do with trees. And when enough people and businesses make that choice, when we stop waiting for someone else to fix things and start taking care of the places we share, we create real, visible change in our community.

We believe that being part of a community comes with responsibilities, and those responsibilities are choices. We can see a problem and assume it belongs to someone else, or we can decide that because we care about where we live, we’re going to help. That’s true for us as individuals, and it’s true for us as a business.

That is why it was so important for us to show up and support the people who are working to make our community cleaner, healthier, and more connected.

We believe businesses have a responsibility to be part of the communities that support them. Not just because it’s good for business, but because the people behind those businesses live here too. Sometimes that means doing tree work. Sometimes it means answering an emergency call after a storm. And sometimes it means driving a dump truck around Port Huron all morning picking up other people's garbage.

We're good with all of it. Because at the end of the day, caring for our community isn't separate from what we do. It’s part of who we are.

We're Glad We Said Yes

We went to Trash Bash expecting to spend the day hauling trash. We left feeling like we'd been part of something much bigger. We saw people come together. We saw creativity, generosity, music, art, laughter, and a whole lot of community spirit. And we got to see firsthand what can happen when someone cares enough about a place to do something about it.

Trash the Clown has created something truly unique with not just Trash Bash, but with the character and spirit that she embodies, and now at The Dumpster, a space she built to share with all of us.

At the end of the day, whether it’s taking care of trees or picking up trash, it goes past just the service provided. We're honored to be able to help take care of the place we call home.

That's something worth getting our hands dirty for.