Block Party and Bubbly!
Celebrate with us on July 13th!
IT’S BLOCK PARTY SEASON!!!
Our 4th Annual Wild Mile Block Party is on July 13th from 3-8pm, at 905 W Eastman Street! Come celebrate the river with local beer and food trucks, music, fun activities, and a prize drawing! It’s a great chance to soak up some sun, support the park, and have a blast while doing it. And entry is FREE!
If you’re part of an organization that would like to support the Block Party, sponsorship opportunities are still open! Email maya@urbanriv.org for more information.
Watershed Paddles
This summer, some of our wonderful community members have put together a series of watershed paddles spanning the Chicago River! If you want to learn from local artists, naturalists, and leaders while experience the river up-close and personal, you can apply to each location using the links below!
River Park on July 26th
Bubbly Creek on August 23rd
Wild Mile on August 30th
Big Marsh on September 7th
Bubbly Creek Installation
If you’ve been wanting to get involved with a garden installation, you’re in luck! We’ll be adding an additional garden to our Bubbly Creek installation in late July. You can create a volunteer account here to make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to get involved - we’ll be posting volunteer shifts as soon as we have the specific dates figured out!
July Events
The weather is warm, and the native plants are popping off! Event descriptions and RSVP links can always be found on the events page of our website.
Wild Mile Walking Tours: July 6th, 12 and 1pm
Wild Mile Walking Tour: July 9th, 5:30pm
Wild Mile S’mores Night: July 9th, 6-8pm
Wild Mile Workshop - Pollinator Gardens with Nick Dorian and Jeremie Fant: July 10th, 6-8pm
Wild Mile Walking Tours: July 13th, 12 and 1pm
4th Annual Wild Mile Block Party: July 13th, 3-8pm
River Ranger Social: July 16th, 6-7:30pm, (Off Color Brewing)
Wild Mile Workshop - Culinary Foraging with Dave Odd: July 18th, 6:00-8:00pm
Wild Mile Walking Tours: July 20th, 12 and 1pm
Wild Mile Workshop - In-Depth Foraging with Axel Peterman: July 24th, 6-8pm
Fishing on the Wild Mile: July 26th, 10am-2pm
July Jams on the Wild Mile: July 26th, 6:30-8:45pm
Wild Mile Walking Tours: July 27th, 12 and 1pm
Wild Mile Workshop: Plant Medicine with Jah Brown: July 31st, 6-8pm
Partner Events at the Wild Mile:
CatJam Chicago Acoustic Jam Session: July 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, & 30th, all 7-10pm
Beneath Breathing: Wild Mile Projections: July 3rd, 10th, & 17th, all 9-9:30pm
Pollinator Safari with Nick Dorian: July 19th, 4-6pm
Office Insights
Creature Updates
Chonkosaurus - most known for being extremely large in 2023 - has once again trundled into the limelight! In light of this recent publicity, we thought we’d share some of the other notorious creatures that have been frequenting the neighborhood recently.
One-Eyed Winnie, and her Goose Island beaver buddies! This icon, likely associated with the baby beavers we’ve been seeing on the Wild Mile for the past 3 years, has one bad eye and an appetite for destruction
The Chonkettes - just like Chonkosaurus, but about 30% smaller. These bold reptiles can oftentimes be found sunning themselves between the Wild Mile and the seawall! They’ve recently been seen GORGING themselves on fallen mulberries, presumably in an attempt to achieve a Chonkosaurus-like size.
This one particular heron - unnamed - who has been serially pooping in front of our one of our South Branch wildlife cameras. This is the same dock frequented by Ida Beav Wells, Chewy Garcia, and Plumpton Sinclair, so one wonders if this dynamic creates drama at the HOA meetings.
