FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Volunteers have been slow to respond to a community cleanup day in downtown Fairhope and on Greeno Road this weekend, said Sherry Sullivan, the city’s senior services director.

“I think it’s because so many people have been focused on volunteering to help with the coastline,” said Sullivan, regarding efforts to clean debris from local beaches before oil from last month’s drilling accident in the Gulf of Mexico reaches the Eastern Shore.

“We know everybody is focused on that right now, but the other areas of the town are also important because that material could also end up in the bay, if we don’t keep the other areas cleaned up,” she said. “We’re trying to do a last push to promote this Saturday’s cleanup because we haven’t had many people volunteer.”

When Mayor Tim Kant announced in April that the city would coordinate the first of two community cleanup days this year on May 15, the BP oil-well accident was less than a week old.

Since then, the large majority of phone calls to the city have been to help clean beaches in preparation for any local impact from the massive spill, Sullivan said.

But few people have called to volunteer for Saturday’s community cleanup, which will remove litter and refuse from city parks, roadsides and neighborhoods, she said.

“We probably have not done a good job in the community of making people understand the importance of keeping litter picked up,” Sullivan said. “But if we get a big rain, or it gets into storm drains, that material eventually ends up at the bay.”

Kant announced the community cleanup days during his “state of the city” address, saying that litter can sometimes go unnoticed when you’re driving through town.

“But if you’re walking in Fairhope, you will definitely see it,” he said.

Sullivan said Kant has always been interested in keeping the community clean and free of litter.

“We’ve wanted to do a community cleanup for the past couple years,” she said, noting the last major plans for a cleanup program were disrupted by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Saturday’s event will focus on cleaning up litter along Greeno Road between Fairhope High School and Volanta Avenue, and in Fairhopers Community Park across from the K-1 Center, she said.

“We’ve really reached out to the local schools, hoping they’ll get involved,” she said.

The second cleanup day on Sept. 18 will focus on neighborhoods, possibly in partnership with local property owners associations, Sullivan said.

This Saturday’s community cleanup will occur from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers should call Arthur Bosarge at 928-8003, who is coordinating the event. Individuals must provide their own trash bags and can either report to the location given when they call in, or just show up at the Big Lots shopping center at Greeno Road and Fairhope Avenue, where there will be a staging area and drop-off location. For more information, call Sullivan at 990-0218.