CHESAPEAKE — What do a parking meter and a grocery cart have in common?

Not much unless both were plucked out of Symmes Creek one Saturday morning. Then they were the reason one lucky Boy Scout got a prize.

So far those have been the most unusual items pulled out of the creek during the annual Symmes Creek Canoe Caper. This year’s caper will start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Chesapeake boat ramp.

“It is to draw attention to the creek and give people something to be proud of,” said Grayson Thornton, chair of the Symmes Creek Restoration Committee.

This will be the 16th year for the caper that is open to anyone who wants to spend an hour going up and down the creek cleaning up debris and trash.

“We ask them to do what they can do in an hour,” Thornton said. “They go up the creek at Chesapeake. There’s no current there because it is so close to the river.”

After their cleaning foray, volunteers come back to the boat ramp for hot dogs, chips and drinks, plus prizes for the individuals who collects the most trash and the most unusual items.

Anyone interested in the caper only needs to show up at the creek starting at 9:30 a.m. with a canoe. Lunch will be at noon and a canoe donated by the National Wild Turkey Federation will be raffled off at that time.

“We have such great partners,” Thornton said. “Partners make it possible to do what we do.”