SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Some 230 travel industry volunteers descended on Sacramento last Friday to spruce up several historical sites throughout the city as part of a Tourism Cares event.
Volunteers were divided into groups and took on four different projects in California’s capital city.
One group repainted the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum, and another built wooden trash receptacles for Old Sacramento, a part of the city that dates to the 1849 California Gold Rush.
Some volunteers re-landscaped grave sites at the Historic City Cemetery, and another group worked at Sutter’s Fort to rebuild the fort’s driveway and to do some archiving inside.
Tourism Cares is a nonprofit organization that puts together these volunteer events to help clean up and restore various tourist destinations in the U.S.
Volunteers hailed from all over the U.S., representing local travel companies and destination market organizations in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas as well as those farther afield, such as Pawtucket,R.I.-based Collette Vacations and Downers Grove, Ill.-based Abercrombie & Kent.
The event started at 8 a.m. on Friday with breakfast at Waterfront Park in Old Sacramento. Volunteers worked in the blazing Sacramento sun until 3 p.m., when they were rewarded with root beer floats.
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.