Wrangle weeds, win cash: Hurricane mayor hosts 'Tumbleweed Takeover'

HURRICANE, Washington County — Hurricane Mayor Clark Fawcett has been on a mission to rid his city of tumbleweeds, and now he's hoping residents will lend a hand.

"We get people sending us pictures that show that they can't even get out of their front doors or open up their garage because of all the tumbleweeds," Fawcett told KSL. "It's too big of a problem that we didn't know what to do about, so I decided to raise awareness and get some cleanup started."

Fawcett took office in January and said he has wanted to start community events where he can interact with locals. He calls them "Mayor Meetups," and this month, he is hosting a "Tumbleweed Takeover" that he hopes will be a community-bonding experience that benefits everyone.

"It's a big mess there, and they're hanging over the sidewalks," he said. "You can't even walk in some places."

Fawcett said he recognizes that tumbleweeds are iconic to the Southwest — even nostalgic to some — but he considers them a force to be reckoned with. Leading up to this Saturday's Mayor Meetup, he said he has already cleared 500 of the invasive plants from the town.

"I committed to taking at least 1,000 tumbleweeds myself, which I'm up to 500 so far," he said. "To get more, I just decided that we'll have this event from 10 to noon. I've got a property that sits along the state highway that's got a lot of tumbleweeds. We'll just meet there and we'll see how many we can get cleaned up during that time."

The mayor has also launched a friendly competition with cash prizes to see who can wrangle the most tumbleweeds.

"I started a little contest, which I haven't seen anybody accept yet. I have a prize of $250 for the person who gets the most tumbleweeds, $200 for second and $150 for third," he said, adding that residents can submit before-and-after photos of areas they've cleaned to enter.

Regarding the site residents will tackle Saturday, the mayor noted that these are not the typical dry tumbleweeds seen rolling down dusty roads.

"It's green right now," Fawcett said. "Until they're dry, they're still pretty heavy."

The Tumbleweed Takeover will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on state-owned property at 1375 W. State Street, just north of State Street and east of Gould Wash. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves and shovels.

"I think there's going to be some success out of it," he said. "I'd like everybody to go out there and do their subdivisions and clean them up. If nothing else, I just want to raise the awareness so that we can make a little bit more progress."