Saturday, Nov. 18, St. John Parish officials hosted its annual Fall Clean Sweep.

This event is a parish wide clean-up day involving hundreds of volunteers from schools, government agencies, churches, civic organizations, home-owner associations and industry.

The event kicked off at the Thomas F. Daley Memorial Park, where volunteers were provided food and refreshments as a token of appreciation on behalf of St. John Parish.

Areas of St. John were swept of trash and debris by volunteers — we appreciate all those who came out to keep St. John beautiful. We also encourage residents to continue to commit every day to keeping our parish clean.

• The St. John the Baptist Parish Economic Development Department has launched its annual “Shop Local, Shop St. John” campaign just in time for the 2017 holiday season.

The goal of this campaign is to promote local businesses in St. John and encourage residents to spend their dollars locally within the parish for the economic benefit to St. John.

A kick-off event was held for the public Monday at Dunkin Donuts in LaPlace.

The local trivia game will be going out in the mail with clues to local businesses. If the correct answers are selected and returned, residents will be entered in a drawing to win gift cards and other prizes from local retailers.

The trivia game will take place through Dec. 28, and winners will be announced on Dec. 29.

Please visit stjohneconomicdevelopment.com for an online, searchable directory of local businesses. Businesses can register to be a part of the campaign at sjbparish.com/shoplocal.

There is no cost for membership.

• The St. John Sheriff’s Office held its annual Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Luncheon at Regala Gym Tuesday at Regala Gym. Seniors were treated to a nice lunch and played bingo during the day.

Thank you to the Sheriff’s Office for always hosting this great event.

• Residents looking for bonfire permits on both East and West Banks of the Parish can now apply through Dec. 9 during normal business hours at the Emergency Operations Center, located at 1801 W. Airline Hwy. in LaPlace.

• It seems like we blinked an eye, and Thanksgiving 2017 fell upon us. As I say every year, we all truly have a lot to be thankful for.

An active hurricane season missed us multiple times while our neighbors and other parts of the country and surrounding countries were not so lucky. Our hearts go out to those who lost so much.

On behalf of the St. John the Baptist Parish Council and Administration — I’d like to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. May we all continue to count our blessings each and every day.

Michael P. Wright is St. John the Baptist Parish Council District 5 representative and Council vice chairman. Contact him at District5@sjbparish.com or m.wright@sjbparish.com.