Thank you everyone who worked together to make the 33rd Annual Chicago River Day

an impactful day of stewardship and community!

Together, over 2800 volunteers made our river healthier and safer by pick up litter, removing invasive plants, building trails and so much more at 92 sites throughout the watershed. After the event, volunteers came together to swap stories and celebrate their hard work at after parties at Blue Island Beer Company and Burning Bush Brewery. Thank you to the many elected officials and sponsors who also showed their support for caring for our rivers, communities and local wildlife.

If you are excited to continue to working towards making our city Litter Free, there are lots of ways to get involved. Friends' is happy to support you planning your own litter cleanup with guideance, supplies and equipment through our Supply Stations and Litter Free Toolkit. You can share our Litter Free Property Guide to help landowners better manage trash on their grounds or use the City of Chicago's 311 app or website to report a littered area, request trash bins, or request pick up of overflowing trash bins. Click here for more ways to take action to create a Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River. 

Featured River Animal

Every year we feature a river animal to help us connect to the animals who rely on us to care for and protect this important river system. The 2025 featured animal is the spotted gar which prefer clear, quiet, vegetated waters. Spotted gar are primitive fish and date back to the Cretaceous Period, between 65 to 100 million years ago. This means that the ancestors of today’s spotted gar swam with dinosaurs! They are common in the lower portions of Illinois, but was only recently "rediscovered" in the Chicago River in 2014. The river’s health has rebounded significantly since 1979 when Friends started, making a more welcoming habitat for these beautiful fish.

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Here are a few of the many fantastic stories about Chicago River Day 2025 in our local media: 

WGN News - May 9

WGN News – Chicago River Cleanup Record Volunteers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rlv3q6fEKc

FOX 32 - Chicago River Day - Less Trash More Wildlife

CBS 2 - Chicago River Day 2025

Chicago Star - Clean the river, clean the banks: Volunteer for Chicago River Day

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Save the Date for Chicago River Day,
May 9, 2026!

While there is much to celebrate about the river’s renaissance over the past 40 years, litter continues to be a persistent problem, especially in the form of plastics from food and product packaging. Chicago River Day is the flagship event for Friends’ Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River initiative which is dedicated to reducing and eliminating litter in and along our river system through public policy and on the ground action. Interested in helping clean up throughout the year? Check out other Litter Free opportunities here.