Festival Chair Teresa Welborn said organizers received comments following last year’s festival that it was difficult to see the river from the festival site on East LaPorte Street.
“We wanted to get a view of the river, but the bank goes straight down in some places, so we didn’t want to get it cleared too close to the water,” she said.
Bob Yoder, educator with the Marshall County Extension Office, cautioned the volunteers to stay clear of poison ivy which is plentiful in the area.
Local businessman and festival committee member George Schricker used a motor powered weed-wacker and his wife Michelle cleared a large area swinging an old fashioned blade cutter. 
Rick Huff and sons Wyatt and Sam helped in the clean-up efforts. At one time or another, all three have floated down the Yellow River.
The Kent Borggren family spent the morning toting trash bags. Sherri Borggren and children, Tyler and Heather, became a little more cautious after spotting a small snake in the tall weeds.
The Yellow River Festival will feature foods, music and costumes of the time when the town was first settled.