Sandown businesses have kickstarted a campaign to clean up the town ahead of the summer tourist rush, iwradio.co.uk reports.
The Sandown Business Association and local fashion retailer Rapanui have teamed up in the hope of engaging the local community and getting them to give the town a little boost over the bank holiday weekend.
The date has been set for Sunday, 5th May, when shop fronts in the town will be washed, scraped and re-painted in a bud to spruce them up. Special attention will also be paid to the empty shops around Sandown to give a place a full spring clean.
It has also been made to correlate with the upcoming local elections, in order to give the town a boost which could potentially translate into a higher voter turnout.
The biggest reason for the sprucing up, however, it to make the town more appealing and get the entire Bay area looking much fresher. This will then encourage more people to consider booking Isle of Wight holidays or to factor a daytrip to Sandown into the itinerary of their existing bookings.
Chair of the Sandown Business Association, Nicky Parker, told iwcp.co.uk of the plans: “Sandown is in need of a spring clean.
“It’s in a beautiful location but the abandoned shops in town damage the appearance and reputation of the bay area. We plan to turn things around this summer, starting with this clean-up day. Any help from volunteers and businesses on the day would be amazing.”