Keep Hall Beautiful's board members and staff stretched out a string of plastic bags, bottles and aluminum cans in front of Gainesville's City View Center Wednesday afternoon.

They cut the homemade ribbon to celebrate their new home at 332 Washington St., which includes office space, a board meeting room and several spots to store their cleanup gear.

"We have so much room here," said Cindy Reed, Keep Hall Beautiful's executive director.

"It's a good space at a great location. It's easy to find, and people can swing by to say hello and help us work on projects."

The location brings them closer to downtown, where they will host the annual Spring Chicken Festival on April 30. The group previously used a suite at Interactive Neighborhood for Kids on Chestnut Street.

"With the budget cuts a few years ago, we moved into INK to save money, which was great," Reed said.

"Then they got so busy and had a lot of exhibits around our offices. We loved having kids around, but it wasn't the best atmosphere to work in."

Gainesville City Council member George Wangemann, a Keep Hall Beautiful board member, introduced Reed to Gainesville's Gibson Dental Designs president Alvin Gibson, who owns the City View Center suite.

"He wanted to do something to help and gave us a good break on the price," Reed said. "Thanks to him, we were able to get this great space."

Wangemann, council member Myrtle Figueras and Hall County Commissioner Billy Powell also welcomed the group to the new location.

"We love it. It's more than adequate and at a very reasonable price," Wangemann said. "It's as wonderful as you could expect, and the location is hard to beat."

Main Street Gainesville hosted Wednesday's ribbon cutting to celebrate a new business in the downtown area.

"Main Street is involved with a lot that Keep Hall Beautiful does because they do so much for downtown," said Angela Thompson, Main Street manager and a Keep Hall Beautiful board member. "Just as Main Street would welcome any new group, we're welcoming them today, and we're excited for them."

Deb Gregson, who works in the city's communications and tourism office, came up with the idea to use bags, cans and bottles for the ceremony's ribbon.

"We have a recycle bin in our office with bottles and cans, and we wanted to do something that was different," Thompson said.

"So we used something that could be recycled itself, which we will do after today's event. It reflects Keep Hall Beautiful's idea of reducing, recycling and repurposing."