Read more about local beautification efforts in the June/July 2025 feature story.
When Carol McClintock began walking with friends for exercise around 2000, they were shocked at the litter scattered along their East Side routes: cigarette butts and empty packs, bottles drained of their alcohol, aluminum beer cans, and large Styrofoam soft drink cups with straws and plastic tops affixed. “There was so much of it at the time, it was terrible,” she recounts.
McClintock and her fellow walkers landed on a solution: Bringing plastic shopping bags with them, they began picking up litter they found and disposing of the filled bags once back home.
When her husband, Lloyd Winnecke, was elected Evansville’s mayor in 2011, the city and Keep Evansville Beautiful co-sponsored litter cleanup events. “I think that’s when people started to notice,” McClintock says. “I do believe our city is cleaner now because it was so widespread, and people saw it.”
As a top-producing Realtor with F.C. Tucker Emge’s Team McClintock, “I do relocation for several large corporations, and when I give tours, it’s not uncommon for people to comment that the city is so clean,” she says.
A Downtown resident since 2012, McClintock still walks early each weekday morning, picking up litter along the way. Her advice on aiding beautification efforts? “Just be cognizant of what’s around you. Walking by Sunset Skatepark the other day, I didn’t see any litter. But because it’s rained so much, weeds are growing out of the tree beds. Somebody could pull those weeds,” she says, adding: “Don’t be afraid to do it, and get your friends to help you do it.”
