While environmental groups don't question the safety of the dye used in the annual St. Patrick's Day tradition, Margaret Frisbie, Friends' Executive Director, does question the message it sends.

Several cities dye their waterways green in honor of St. Patrick's Day, including Chicago's own Chicago River.

Friends of the Chicago River hosted the 2015 Chicago River Student Congress this past Saturday, Februrary 21st at Taft High School with 143 students and 30 teachers from 15 schools, 4 universities, and 5 environmental organizations.

Friends of the Chicago River will be handing out its sixth annual Chicago River Blue Awards at the Big Fish Ball on June 4th, 2015.

The downtown Chicago Riverwalk will open this spring and, in preparation, City Hall has issued a “notice of availability” to find concessions operators for the “2015 season only" which runs from May 3 to Nov. 1. 

Although the Chicago River faces potential attack from Asian carp, it now has an active and caring group of Friends who are working hard to defend and improve it.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources has found "eDNA" (or DNA found in the water, not on the fish) of Asian carp in the Chicago River, but no actual fish. 

The Chicago Department of Transportation opened bids this month to begin Phase 3 construction on the Chicago Riverwalk.

New Year's is often a time of reflection; and as we enter into 2015, we have been reflecting on many things here at Friends, including our website. 

Today the Chi-Cal Rivers Fund announced $1.1 million in grants to benefit the Chicago River system including $175,000 to Friends of the Chicago River for in-stream habitat improvement. "This grant is an exciting extension of our work to improve water quality to protect the health of people and fish," said Margaret Frisbie, Friends' executive director.