Amidst the smell of week-old, cut grass and cold, rusted metal, 800 people braved the crisp early Saturday morning air to receive new electric lawnmowers in Sacramento State?s Lot 10.

By 8:30 a.m. about 500 cars had come and gone, and close to 1,000 cars were still lined up to receive vouchers.

The fifth annual “Mow Down Air Pollution” event was put on by the Sacramento Air Quality Management District, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, City of Sacramento and other regional air quality management groups. The event featured 40 staff members and volunteers signing up, collecting, tossing, draining and recycling 800 gas-powered lawn mowers??all in hopes of improving air quality and educating the masses about the contributions of gas powered lawn and garden equipment to the overall pollution problem in the Sacramento area.

“There were at least 300 cars lined up by 6 a.m.,” said David Uhlenhop, store manger for the Home Depot off of Power Inn Drive.

The event was originally planned to begin at 7:30 a.m., but it opened slightly earlier due to the growing number of cars that lined down College Town Drive with their trunks half open with mowers hanging out.

“Some people actually started lining up at three in the morning,” said Adam Taylor, son of staff volunteer Tim Taylor.

Within two and a half hours of the start, the last remaining electric lawnmower was stuffed into a beige Volvo station wagon.

“It was insane?It was extremely successful, we were quite pleased,” said Associate Air Quality Analyst Charlene McGhee. “We had to turn away a couple hundred people? we?re sometimes a victim of our own success.”

Participants drove in from College Town Drive and followed the posted signs that directed participants to stay in their cars. The cars eventually backed up to Howe Avenue.The process of receiving an electric mower began by entering through Lot 6 with a gas lawn mower, where swappers received a “Mower Pass” guaranteeing them a mower. They then filled out a release form relinquishing ownership of their lawn mower to the Mow Down Working Group.

“Everyone who got a card got a mower,” McGhee said.

Afterwards, recipients drove over to Lot 10 where staff and volunteers unloaded the old gas-powered mowers and placed them in economy-sized trash bins, later to be crushed and recycled by SIMSmetal America. Finally, swappers drove behind two 18-wheel big rigs where they were given new Black and Decker CMM 1000 electric, rechargeable, 19-inch blade, cordless mowers.

“I don?t know how they could do it any faster so I think it?s good. I like that you don?t have to get out of the car,” said Daniel McCourd, who arrived at 6:30 a.m. and received his new mower two hours later.

The electric mowers retail for $379 at Home Depot, but this program allowed people to purchase them at a special deal of $199.95.

By 8:30 a.m. about 500 cars had gone through the mower exchange, and close to 1,000 cars were still lined up waiting.

Vouchers were given to participants who were not among the first 800 cars. According to Sandy Hampton, Assistant Manager of the Garden Department at the Rancho Cordova Home Depot, the vouchers were discounts to purchase the mower at the Black and Decker Outlet Store.

The annual event has traditionally been held over two weekends, with approximately 1,000 new electric mowers being exchanged. This year?s mower exchange was held in one weekend with 800 new mowers available for exchange, according to Jamie Brown Arno, spokesperson for Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.The mower swap is planned every year by the Mow Down Working Group, which is made up of numerous groups including Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, California Air Resource Board and Sacramento County Recycling Division.

Since the beginning of the lawn mower exchange five years ago, 5,000 gas mowers have been recycled.

“That means we?ve gotten 5,000 gas polluting mowers out of people?s garages and have put in non-pollutant electric mowers,” said Jamie Brown Arno, spokesperson for Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.