Spiffing up in the springtime will cost Ironton a little less this year.

The city has been awarded a $2,500 litter cleanup grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The money will go to help pay for supplies and perhaps even dump fees for the city’s cleanup event.

This year the city will join with the rest of Lawrence County in a first-ever Lawrence County Cleanup Day that is slated for May 2.

Mayor Rich Blankenship said it is likely the city’s event may last for two or three days including May 2.

“We will probably do more than that,” Blankenship said. “Ours may be three or four days. We want to do what we can to maintain our city and keep it clean.”

This is the first year the city has gotten such a grant from ODNR.

“Last year we had our cleanup and afterward I got with Dan Palmer (director of the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District) and he brought our attention to it,” Blankenship said. “This goes to show there are grants out there and we just need to take the time to apply. And you see the results.”