Webster Austin of the band Easy Honey cleans up trash along Free Street in Portland on Sunday. Easy Honey, Friends of Casco Bay and the Maine Surfers Union worked together on a Portland harbor cleanup. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The Sunday morning of their show at the Portland House of Music, the members of surf-rock band Easy Honey armed themselves with grabbers, buckets and sacks.

They joined Friends of Casco Bay, the Maine Surfers Union and a handful of volunteers who walked from the Surfers Union surf shop and went up and down Free Street and Monument Square and down to the Old Port, picking up cigarette butts, straw wrappers and other litter.

Picking up trash before playing shows has become a kind of tradition for the South Carolina-based band. As surfers and environmental advocates, band members Darby McGlone, Selby Austin, Charlie Holt and Webster Austin have included several cleanups on their aptly named “Surf Tour.”

Sara Freshley, far right, a community organizer and volunteer coordinator with Friends of Casco Bay, talks with volunteers before they begin to clean up the streets of Portland on Sunday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

McGlone, Easy Honey’s co-lead vocalist and guitarist, said the initiative is a great way to get to know the cities they play and connect with different communities.

“Last summer, we devised the Surf Tour as a way to not just play shows but also surf a little bit, which is something we all do and love,” McGlone said. “And then do these cleanups, just to kind of bring it all together and make it a comprehensive experience.”

This is the second time Easy Honey has played Portland, and the second time the band members have teamed up with local environmental nonprofit Friends of Casco Bay to clean up parts of the watershed. Last year, they joined a group picking up litter on the Eastern Promenade.

“It’s just so great to have the intersection between art and passion for the environment and surfing all come together,” said Sara Freshley, a community organizer and volunteer coordinator for Friends of Casco Bay.

Dave Dinsmore was one of the volunteers who got up Sunday morning to tidy up trash downtown. A lifelong Portland-area resident, Dinsmore enjoys volunteering with Friends of Casco Bay to protect the natural resources in the city he loves.

“It’s all about keeping trash out of the bay,” Dinsmore said.

Volunteer Montana Stephens of South Portland picks up trash on the sidewalk along Free Street in Portland on Sunday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

It’s tourist season, which means plenty of trash that threatens to end up in storm drains and flow into Casco Bay. Though people might think of the beach when they imagine community cleanups, Freshley said it’s important not to overlook the massive impact urban areas have on the health of the bay.

“A lot of trash is is sourced from downtown Portland,” Freshley said. “We have a lot of people smoking cigarettes, getting takeout. Of course, the seagulls get into trash and spread it out everywhere.”

A dirty task – that the members of Easy Honey were more than happy to help out with. And coming off the release of their third album, “Cupidity Unlimited,” the band members were excited take the stage at the House of Music on Sunday night.

“We’re stoked to be here in Portland,” McGlone said. “The cleanup is awesome.”