Spend this weekend active in McMinnville with music, camping, and a river ride designed to clean up the Barren Fork. 
McMinnville’s Breakfast Rotary Club is making this weekend green with four activities for environmentalist young and old. It’s all about letting people of all ages enjoy the amazing things McMinnville has to offer as a community and its natural splendor, according to organizers Rachel Killebrew and Neal Cox.
The Breakfast Rotary Club has composed a list of free, and budget friendly ideas on how to spend this weekend. “All of our activities are free except for Bluegrass Underground at Cumberland Caverns. We are also providing two free meals to volunteers at the annual River Ride and Cleanup,” Killebrew said.
Breakfast Rotary and Friends of Our River invite everyone to participate in the fourth annual River Ride and Clean Up this Saturday. The route begins at Pepper Branch Park at 100 Old Morrison Road where registration and breakfast for volunteers will take place beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The first group will depart at 8 a.m. with groups departing every 15 minutes. The last expedition will leave at 9:30 a.m. The trip ends at Rocket Park where lunch and transportation back to your vehicle will be available.
Breakfast Rotary will supply life jackets, gloves, and bags. Canoes are being provided by Boy Scouts, Robert Oaks Adventures, and Friends of Our River. However, if you have your own canoe, kayak, flat-bottom boat, horse, or life jacket you are encouraged to bring it.
The guided float trip normally takes two-and-a-half hours down a two-mile stretch of the Barren Fork River while volunteers work to collect trash. Last year, over 140 volunteers participated, including 12 horses that helped with heavier loads.
This year, Breakfast Rotary hopes even more people, and horses, turn out.
“In the past three years alone the clean up has pulled out more 23,000 pounds or 11.5 tons of debris and garbage,” says Cox.
Among the more unusual finds, volunteers have pulled out a washing machine and car frames. However, the most common items are tires, cans, and plastic bags. 
“No government agency is directly responsible for the day-to-day pick up of debris along our water ways,” says Cox. “It is a community effort and can be a very rewarding and fun experience. Warren County has over 100 miles of waterway including creeks, and water quality obviously has a large impact on life.”
In addition to the river project, three other “green” activities are scheduled today and tomorrow.
• Camping at Pepper Branch Park: The city has approved McMinnville Breakfast Rotary Club’s request to allow camping at Pepper Branch Park tonight. Temporary bathroom facilities will be provided and tables. Camping will be located near the gazebo. Reservations will need to be made to Janie Robbins at (931) 267-1777 or McMinnville Electric Company at (931) 473-3144.
• Main Street Live: Attend the weekly concert on Main Street tonight. Food vendors will open for business at 6 p.m. and the concert begins at 7 p.m. Thunder Creek is the band.
• Bluegrass Underground at Cumberland Caverns: To end green weekend take part in the final concert of the weekend only eight miles from Rocket Park. All participants must meet at the cave by noon on Saturday. If you are planning to do the clean up, please tell organizers at Rocket Park so you will have plenty of time.