On Sept. 26, residents across Albuquerque gathered for Imagine ABQ Day, a citywide cleanup and beautification effort organized around five volunteer hubs. The city had invited people to join projects from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; a Sept. 28 post-event report from The Paper confirms that crews worked across the city, picking up litter and weeds. In Barelas, the day also included a neighborhood mural reveal and community walk, giving residents another way to spend part of the day together.
The event is now in its fifth year and takes place on the last Saturday of September, according to the City of Albuquerque District 6 announcement. The city described it as a chance to clean neighborhoods, complete beautification projects, and strengthen connections among residents. The timing also links the volunteer day to Albuquerque’s fall visitor season: The Paper reported that organizers see a late-September cleanup as a way to get the city looking sharp before the Balloon Fiesta, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The city planned five check-in hubs where volunteers could pick up supplies, leave collected trash, and find other people to work with. They were at Fire Station 12, Fire Station 5, Next Chapter Studios in Nob Hill, Revamp Upholstery in Barelas, and the Bosque location at Sunset Boulevard and Central Avenue. Each location gave residents a starting point for joining nearby efforts; the announcement described citywide neighborhood cleanups and beautification rather than one central work site.
The two Barelas locations served different purposes. Revamp Upholstery, 916 4th St. SW, was listed as a cleanup hub. The free mural reveal was scheduled at 507 4th St. SW. Separately, the city listed a 1:30–3 p.m. community celebration at Triangle Park in Nob Hill. The Paper’s recap confirms that neighbors gathered for the Barelas reveal and a community walk. Keeping the sites distinct matters: they were nearby parts of the day, not the same stop.
The Barelas gathering also brought the campaign’s guests into the cleanup. The Paper reported that Luis and Daniel Moncada posed for photos, greeted fans, and filled trash bags. The City announcement identifies the brothers as the actors who play the Salamanca Cousins in Breaking Bad and lists their appearance with the free mural reveal. The Paper’s report records a small but specific part of the day: after greeting fans, the brothers also filled bags during the cleanup.
Beyond Barelas, The Paper described volunteers fanning out from five hubs across the Bosque, Nob Hill, and Northeast Heights. Crews filled bags with litter and weeds. The report provides a picture of the work but not a total number of people, bags, or sites completed, so the scale of the results should not be overstated. The City announcement had encouraged residents to join neighborhood cleanup and beautification projects during the four-hour morning window.
The City said Imagine ABQ Day was part of a wider New Mexico litter-prevention campaign. Since the campaign began in October 2024, it had partnered with 190 local organizations, and coordinated cleanups had collected more than 10,000 bags of trash, according to the announcement. Those are statewide, campaign-wide figures, not a result from the Sept. 26 Albuquerque event. They offer context for the program’s larger network while leaving the day’s own totals unreported.
That gap in reporting also limits what can be said about longer-term effects. The two accounts do not measure how much cleaner each block remained afterward, who returned to future projects, or how the mural will be maintained. They do document practical participation: residents had supply-and-drop-off hubs, crews picked up litter and weeds, and Barelas neighbors walked together after a mural reveal. The city described the aim as strengthening neighborhood connections, but the reporting does not try to measure the effect.
Imagine ABQ Day combined work with room to meet people: the city listed five starting points and several scheduled gatherings, while The Paper documented activity at the hubs and the Barelas walk. Residents spent a Saturday morning cleaning across town, and some joined neighbors for a public celebration. It was one day of local upkeep and community time, with final volunteer and cleanup counts left unknown.
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