With the Super Bowl less than a month away and Mardi Gras a week later, the French Quarter Business Association is holding a Community Cleanup on Saturday from 9am to 12pm in an effort to get rid of graffiti in the quarter.

The group's executive director, Annie Flettrich, says volunteers should meet at the 8th District police station on Royal Street at 9am. At the end of the cleanup, participants will be treated to lunch free of charge at a French Quarter restaurant.

"We have volunteers that will come to the French Quarter and check in, get a t-shirt and then walk around with rags and scrapers to remove small tags off of public property," Flettrich said.

Flettrich says graffiti is a recurring problem in the quarter. It seems to reappear as fast as it's removed.

She says there's been a proliferation of stickers or tags. They're everywhere, she says, on stop signs, light poles and trash cans.

Graffiti spray painted on buildings is also a problem, she says, and it can be expensive to remove, as well as damaging to the building.

"It's destroying the buildings because you have to either sandblast it off or use harsh chemicals," Flettrich said.