PORTSMOUTH — A stretch of Park Avenue’s sidewalk is looking spiffier thanks to the efforts of volunteers who came out Saturday morning armed with trash bags, brooms and pruners.

The Island Park Preservation Society and the Portsmouth Business Association (PBA) hosted a “seawall cleanup,” which started where Boyds Lane meets Park Avenue and continued east until the end of the street lamps — about 1,800 feet.

The group of volunteers included several elected officials, including Town Council member David Gleason, council-elect Sharlene Patton and Mary A. McDowell, and R.I. Sen. Linda Ujifusa.

John Vitkevich, a member of both host organizations, was pleased by the number of people who showed up to get their hands dirty.

“I’m so proud of the turnout, and on Tuesday we’re having DOT come by for a street-sweeping,” he said. “We’ve got new council members here, we’ve got a senator, we’ve got Portsmouth Business Association members. I’m delighted. We live in the best community,” he said.

The seawall needed a makeover, he said, because it “just looked terrible,” adding he would return the next day to get rid of “the stuff growing up between the cracks of the sidewalk.”

Rich Talipsky, a board member of the PBA who came out to help, said it was important to keep Island Park clean because it serves as such a great showcase of local businesses. 

“This is one of the best-kept secrets of Portsmouth,” he said.