Chicago River Blue Awards
Zach Wirtz of the Morton Arboretum (left) and Mike Fraider of the Village of Alsip receive the Blue Ribbon Award from Friend's Board President Sally Fletcher (center) and Executive Director Margaret Frisbie.
Friends of the Chicago River is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2023 Chicago River Blue Awards recognizing river-sensitive projects for exceptional contributions to continuing the improvement of the Chicago-Calumet River system.
The top prize, the Blue Ribbon Award presented for the highest standard in river-sensitive design, was given to the Village of Alsip and Morton Arboretum for their leadership in green infrastructure. Their innovative project within the Village of Alsip transformed an underutilized paved parking lot along the Cal-Sag Channel into a stormwater-capturing space that also serves as habitat and for recreation. The project, called the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Increasing Green Infrastructure in the Little Calumet River Watershed, is a unique model for transforming river-edge paved sites into nature-based solutions with a host of co-benefits for people and wildlife. Among its many sustainable design aspects, the project included the planting of more than 200 native trees and shrubs as well as seeding the site with native plants. Additional Project Team Partners include the USDA Forest Service, Chicago Region Trees Initiative, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Greencorps Chicago, Calumet Stormwater Collaborative, and PlanIT Landscape Perspectives.
More information about each of the winners of the 2023 River Blue Awards is available on Friends’ website.
“All the award winners represent excellence in river-sensitive design, planning and creativity which demonstrate the growing awareness of the Chicago-Calumet River system as a natural, vibrant and healthy blue-green corridor with long-term benefits for people, plants, and animals,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River.
Winners of Silver Ribbon Award are the Palos and Sag Valley Forest Preserves Restoration by the Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Omni Ecosystems HQ Rooftop in Chicago designed by Omni Ecosystems.
Honored with Green Ribbon Awards are the Pekny Park Green Infrastructure Project by the Riverdale Park District; Cougle Foods Company Headquarters by Cougle Foods in Chicago; The Meadow at the Old Post Office by 601W Companies LLC, Chicago; and The Preserve of Highland Park by the Park District of Highland Park.
Since the first awards in 2010, Friends of the Chicago River has recognized 83 projects that represent both large-scale initiatives and the equally important individual actions of river-edge property owners and elected officials including Chicago Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel to improve and protect the Chicago-Calumet River system.
The awards were presented May 31 at Friends’ annual Big Fish Ball.
