Dear Tourists,

It's that time of the year again. The time where you all swarm our island and essentially throw us your money. I must say, we do appreciate you and all of the revenue you bring to our beautiful little island because you all are what keeps us afloat. There is one thing I ask of you, though, while you're on vacation here this summer, and that's to please keep our beaches clean!

Time and time again, I've seen families and people of all ages tossing their trash right on the ground. I've seen you parading down the boardwalk and tossing trash next to the trashcans and leaving your bottles and food garbage on the beach when you pack up for the day.

Please note that burying trash in the sand does not count as cleaning it up.

I know you're on vacation, but the beach does not have a maid service. There are some people that clean up after the litterers and those are the upset locals trying to keep the beaches clean so you all will stay happy.

I'm sure that if you were at a park or walking down the street at home, you wouldn't even dream of throwing your trash on the ground. Why? Because it's inhumane, disrespectful, and just plain dirty. If you wouldn't do it at home, what makes you think it's okay to do it here? Exactly.

This was a post I saw recently by another concerned local about finding trash in the bay near Ocean City:

It shouldn't be on us to make sure that the beaches and the water stay clean. It should be a group effort and we all have to work together to make sure they are trash-free. Throwing trash in the trash can is not a difficult task. I don't think I, and everyone else who is working to keep everything clean, are asking a lot of you all, so I don't understand why trash continues to clutter our beaches.

Children playing on the beach shouldn't have to pull cigarette butts out of their sandcastles, or dodge nails while running around in the sand. People shouldn't have to be grossed out by swimming in the ocean because of the napkins floating around them. This problem has an easy fix, but there are still people who aren't working to fix it.

So when you're down the shore this summer vacationing with your friends and family, I have one request for you. Please walk that extra 20 feet to the trash cans while you're leaving the beach. It doesn't matter if you have your entire day's trash or a single cigarette butt, please throw it in the trash can so that our beaches and are ocean are as clean and as beautiful as they can be!

Sincerely,

A girl who just wants a clean beach