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(Above) Volunteers on the bow of a Chicago Water Taxi scoop debris from the Chicago River near the Loop on Saturday. Photos obtained from Friends of the Chicago River. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

14-May-18 – Saturday was the day for the Chicago River’s annual cleaning and about 2,000 people showed up to scrub and mop.

“People pulled out shopping carts, pillows, mattresses, plastic bottles,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “There were literally canoes full of trash.”

From 9 a.m. to noon, volunteers were spread across 70 locations along the river, including Kayak Chicago and East Bank Club on the north branch and Ping Tom Memorial Park on the south branch.

(Right) Volunteers pick up trash at Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. Friends of the Chicago River

At Clark Playlot Park on the north branch, volunteers filled two canoes with trash removed from the river.

The nonprofit Friends of the Chicago River estimates more than 600 tons of garbage have been carted off 156 miles of shoreline since the first Chicago River Day in 1992. Trash collected that year included a car seat, bicycles, construction barriers, golf balls, a railroad tie, and 55-gallon drums.

Frisbie says the Chicago River system has improved “dramatically,” thanks to volunteers.

Photo by Steven Dahlman “Twenty-six years and more than 60,000 volunteers after the first Chicago River Day, the Chicago River system is no longer a forgotten wildlife corridor filled with sewage and trash,” said Frisbie (left). “Today the river system is vibrant, accessible, and alive with people, 70 species of fish, countless species of birds, and many native animals, including beavers, mink, and turtles.”