A LOT of people with whom we’ve spoken think this year’s Liberation Day Parade was one of the best ever. Certainly the weather cooperated. It didn’t rain, or even look as though it was threatening to rain, until well after the parade was over.

And the bands, marching units and floats were colorful and fun to watch. Crowds on Guam are not easy to estimate, especially scattered up and down a more than 1-mile-long parade route. But we think 25,000 would be a reasonable estimate of the number that turned out for this parade.

It proved to be a real island party, with music, food and libations. Some families even participated in a non-alcoholic promotion at their pala-palas, getting a free banner for their effort. And a number of families, notably the Rosario family, took charge of policing the area afterward, we were told.

The parade route and surrounding lots were pretty well-cleaned up by late afternoon, a tribute to the efforts of the Boy Scouts, Guam Environmental Protection Agency and the George Washington High School students who participated in the recycling efforts spearheaded by i*recycle-Guam, a nonprofit program that encourages the collection of cans and plastic bottles as a fundraising effort for the schools.

Peggy Denney, the program administrator, told us that Pyramid Recycling, which bales up the aluminum cans at no charge, estimated about 1,500 pounds of cans came in after the parade. She gave particular praise to Tammy Jo Anderson Taft of Guam EPA, who worked tirelessly to get her organization and others out to help restore the post-parade environment.

She also extended a special thank you to the Guam Chamber of Commerce, which provided the funds to make about 250 wire mesh baskets into which bottles and cans could be thrown. They were relatively easy to collect, and all of the money earned through the recycling will be divided among the high schools which participate in the program.

We’re certainly leaving many people out, but we want to give a pat on the back to everybody who recycled or picked up trash or participated in any way in the effort to clean up the parade route. A drive down Marine Corps Drive Sunday morning revealed just how good a job everyone did.

The constant message we hear is to give a hoot, don’t pollute, and the people of Guam are heeding that message, judging by the results after this Liberation Day weekend. Congratulations and kudos to all!