Bayfield - Love Your Greats Day

Love Your Greats Day on August 9, 2025 is the 10th annual celebration of working together to improve our ecological footprint. Back in 2015, Jennifer Pate, after researching plastic pollution in the oceans, realised that the problem (and therefore the solution) begins at home.

For her this meant the Great Lakes and, along with her good friend, Shaun Henry, they established  a completely volunteer initiative “Love Your Greats” to raise awareness to the issue. 

They organized  the very first annual “Love Your Greats Day” in August 2016. Over 1,000 people participated in that first event, walking, wading, paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking, sailing & going outdoors to explore, connect & protect our shared backyard. It was the world's largest simultaneous sampling for microplastics in history.

Since then the annual event on the second Saturday of August has evolved into a grassroots movement to show how we can enjoy our own backyards and our travels in a sustainable way.

The event on August 9 will kick off at 10 am in Bayfield with six teams heading out to do two hours of clean up at the beach, the river, the trails, the roads, the marina and underwater (weather depending). Then from 12 pm to 2 pm, the volunteers will congregate back at the marina to sort and document the trash collected. The data collection piece is an important part of the day, to help analyze what waste is hitting the waterways and how it affects the quality. This will inform the legislation and advocacy campaigns that conservation groups are working on. 

The “leave no trace” philosophy really hits home when you are one of the group who is picking up and sorting what is left behind.

Pate is optimistic, though, as even in the last decade she has seen a significant decline in the waste. While the situation is far

from resolved, the mass education and media coverage on the problem of single use plastics has really started to make progress.

It takes many hands to look after a whole lake system. Love Your Greats partners with many organizations to make the day happen. Bayfield Marine Store, Lake Huron Coastal Centre, Bayfield Trails Association, Ausable Bayfield Conservation, Healthy Lake Huron, Municipality of Bluewater, Shopbike Coffee Roasters, Blue Flag Program, Harbour Lights Marina, Re~Creation Coaching, The Den Juice Co. and River Adventures Bayfield all pull together to keep the initiative going.

You’re invited to come spend the day cleaning up and learning about the connection between the land, water and ourselves. All the information you need can be found at www.loveyourgreats.com (and some great sustainable branded apparel, LYG, the sales from which directly support this event and other local projects that care for the Great Lakes).