Save the Date for the 38 Annual Shore Sweep

Saturday, September 19th 8am – 1pm

Bonny Putney, Vice President and Shore Sweep Chair

Extracted from the Summer Wrap Up 2026 Newsletter

Shore Sweep is fast approaching, and we at the Lake Lanier Association are excited to host and coordinate the 38th annual event. As we celebrate LLA’s 60th anniversary, we hope to continue the celebration with our members and supporters by coming together for one of the biggest reasons LLA has been around for six decades: protecting and cleaning Lake Lanier. The most exciting part of Shore Sweep isn’t the trash. Yes, we collect a lot of it, but what makes this event truly special is the incredible community of people who come together each year to make Shore Sweep the huge success it is.

I am most proud of the incredible list of groups that come together to make Shore Sweep possible. From Hall, Gwinnett, Forsyth and Dawson Counties to our Clean and Beautiful partners, dock companies, heavy equipment and dumpster suppliers, marinas, restaurants, and other nonprofits, the support is truly remarkable. Clubs, schools, neighborhoods, local businesses, and even a state park all play a role. It’s truly a community effort with the most important participant being you, our individual supporters and lake lovers.

While many of these groups provide support and a lot of labor at sites and behind the scenes, nothing happens until volunteers locate the trash, pick up a bag, tow a float, and move that trash to a dumpster. This is the magic. There are more than 1,800 of you and all of you are the true heart of the event.

We hope everyone who can comes out to help this year. There are 7 advance sites open all over the lake for those who cannot help on September 19th. During Shore Sweep, we will have 15 sites, for boats and people who want to walk and pick up trash. We have a huge shoreline to work with. Pick a site and make a plan.

This year we are working with our Dock Builder’s Pledge businesses to make an even bigger impact. Our plan is to stage dock barges and crews in critical locations where volunteers can unload quicker and go out for more. We have a dock company planning meeting coming up and will be sharing where you can expect enhanced professional help removing trash from the lake. It’s the goal for this event to collect as much trash as possible. It’s our hope by making it less exhausting pulling floats to a faraway land site, more trash will be collected. Teamwork from our dock builder partners will make this happen. This doesn’t mean you will not get a shirt; everyone that helps is always invited to stop by one of our 15 lake-wide sites to get a Shore Sweep shirt and a thank you from our site captains and crews.

Your LLA team has expanded this year to include a Programs Coordinator, Hailey Merlo, who will be diving in to help make Shore Sweep even more successful. I hope you get a chance to meet Hailey and welcome her to the Shore Sweep team.

Registration information is included in this newsletter.Please register ahead of time to help us plan for the event and distribute resources like T-shirts to all of the sites. I look forward to seeing all your pictures and I hope to see you on the lake helping clean her up this year.

What to Know for Shore Sweep 2026 Saturday, Sept. 19th 8am – 1pm

Be a part of cleaning up the lake for the benefit of Lake Lanier and all those who enjoy it. Please be sure to pre-register, whether attending by land or water, so we can distribute t-shirts and supplies appropriately throughout the sites.

WHEN: September 19th, trash drop off and supply pickup will be open from 8am-1pm at all sites. This is a drop in event. Pick up trash on your way to the site for drop off, pick up your supplies first then head out to clean, or do a combination of the two.

HOW: Attend via boat, PWC, kayak, canoe, land, or a combination. People walking the shoreline and boats of all sizes can help with this event. Kayak teams have gone into coves that no one else can access and collected trash in laundry baskets strapped to their boats. PWC have pulled trains of dock floats. Pontoons have put down tarps and filled up their boats with piles of bagged trash. We need boats of all types and sizes for this cleanup!

CAN’T MAKE IT ON SEPTEMBER 19TH? YOU CAN STILL HELP.

Advance Sites open September 8th!

Shore Sweep registration, additional details, and location map available at lakelanier.org If you can’t make it to the day of Shore Sweep or you want to clean multiple areas, seven advance sites open on Tuesday, September 8th. You can take trash to these sites by boat for the two weeks before Shore Sweep. Advance sites close at sunset on Friday, September 18th. These are unmanned locations, so please secure trash and debris above the waterline. If you bring trash to any of these locations, please look for the signs posted and leave the debris close to the signs. You can bring bagged trash or large items and leave them at one of these locations. We have volunteer boats scheduled to pick up at all these locations on Saturday for removal.

Trash can only be dropped while the Shore Sweep signs are in place. Do not bring trash to these locations other times of the year.

What To Know for Shore Sweep 2026