Community Celebration at Canal Origins Park
On Saturday, October 4, Friends, our partners, and community members came together at Canal Origins Park on Chicago’s Southwest Side to celebrate the work all of our organizations have done this season to improve this under-resourced park and connect folks with Bubbly Creek and the South Branch Chicago River. For Friends, that included touting the over 1,600 pounds of trash our volunteers removed from the park this season and how those efforts are part of our broader Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River initiative.
With extra support around the park to watch out for immigration officials, 60 people enjoyed catch-and-release fishing, community art activities, educational programming, and opportunities to connect with environmental and community organizations. Our partners at the event were the Chicago Park District Fishing Program, community artist Delilah “Zena” Salgado, McKinley Park Development Council, Neighbors for Environmental Justice, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, Shedd Aquarium, and Urban Rivers.
“The joy of building collaboration and community around this wonderful southwest side park came to a sunshine-filled finish this week," said Maggie Walker, Friends’ event coordinator. “Weekend after weekend, friends and families came out to support the park and each other. It was an honor to be a part of it.”
Friends has been the community steward for Canal Origins Park since 2019, and this year received additional support for cleanups on land, via canoes, and at field trips at the park from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. From March through September Friends hosted 22 cleanup events and engaged 493 volunteers—including students, neighbors, and corporate groups—who picked up nearly one ton of trash.
With the help of an intern funded through the grant, Friends tracked the composition of the litter to learn that about 61% of trash collected at the park was made of plastic, including a significant portion of polystyrene foam. This is a bit less than the average makeup of plastic in the Chicago River, which is closer to 85% according to Dr. Tim Hoellein of Loyola University Chicago. Friends has partnered with Dr. Hoellein for years as part of our Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River initiative, which reduces the amount of trash harming our waterways by engaging residents in cleanups, partnering on litter research, and working with community and government leaders to develop strong public policy and litter reduction programs to keep our rivers clean for all.
Though our monthly cleanups at Canal Origins Park are wrapped for the season, you can still clean up litter at that park, along the river, or on your block by tapping our Litter-Free Supply Stations, which provide all the essential tools to conduct safe litter cleanups – for free! Track your cleanups in October to help Chicago win the trashy Chicago vs. Philly Clean-Off Challenge—a friendly competition to see which city can pick up the most trash in one month.
Join in at chicagoenvironmentalists.org/chivsphillyclean-off.
