Summer Beach Cleanup Party Recap
“How do you even have beaches in Chicago? It’s in the middle of the country!”
This is a question that I (Ellen White, Ecofixr) must have answered a dozen times, and if I’m being honest, it bums me out a little bit. I find that Chicago’s beaches, with what I find to be the best of the Great Lakes, deserve to be much more than a hidden secret. Chicago opened its first public beach in 1894 in the Hyde Park neighborhood, and ever since, Chicago’s public beaches have been a symbol of rest and respite for the people who make the Windy City home. If you’ve lived here for any amount of time, you have heard stories of people coming to the beaches to escape heat waves and broken air conditioning units. As a mother, the beach represents a place for my son to explore nature and to just be a kid. He loves the lake, and it's a great privilege to be within walking distance.
Chicago’s public beaches hold a special place in my heart, which is why I jumped at the chance to help spearhead a beach cleanup party for the Green Wedding Alliance.
On Tuesday, July 15, we partnered with the Alliance for the Great Lakes through their Adopt-a-Beach program, the region’s largest volunteer effort to protect our most precious natural resource: the Great Lakes. Sixteen miles north of the original public beach, in the Edgewater neighborhood, we gathered at Kathy Osterman Beach (also known as Hollywood Beach) with neighbors and do-gooders from across the North Side of Chicago to do what we could to help one of the local Chicagoans' favorite institutions. We also cleaned up the area around the three acres of native dune habitat at Kathy Osterman Beach, which was a delight to help protect our land and water wildlife. Fun fact: the beach was named after Kathy Osterman, who was known for her advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community, efforts in urban restoration and development, and leadership in organizing events and festivals in Chicago. She definitely would have been at our party.
We had a total of 43 people come ready to work. We cleaned up the shore, danced in the sand, snacked in the sun, and had the chance to hang out with some genuinely great people. It was the kind of day that reminds us why community matters! The group was a great mix of GWA members and community members. The energy of the event was filled with positivity, and I am so glad we opened it up to the public. It was a lovely display of community and warmed my heart to see so many people who didn’t just care about our beaches and our world, but who took the time to put their values into action. I also loved that people brought their kids too! My favorite community moment was a sweet couple who stumbled upon our event online and chose to celebrate their anniversary at our beach cleanup party. Cheers to all our fellow eco-friends!
Who Helped Make it a Party
The event would not have been a true party without our amazing sponsors, who provided us with snacks, sweet treats, swag, and music.
Great music for Luniks Entertainment set the fun vibe and got everyone pumped to clean up and celebrate our beautiful city.
Ecoproducts & Urban Canopy gave us some great swag giveaways, including a $100 Patagonia digital gift card, which we raffled off to a hard-working volunteer.
Catered by Design kept our volunteers' energy flowing with delicious sandwiches & fresh fruit.
Then the party ended with refreshingly cold frozen treats by Bartleby's Ice Cream. I overheard someone get super excited about the vegan option, which made it even sweeter.
The Stats
Do we do good things just for proof that we did good things? Of course not! But I love some good stats. They are a nerd bonus, and any excuse for me to pop open a fresh new spreadsheet is ok by me.
As you can see, Osterman Beach lost about 58 pounds of trash weight, and we all know beaches have a very high standard for beach bodies. (I promise that’ll be the only joke like that that I’ll make). Unfortunately, due to much of the waste being contaminated from Fireworks and Cigarettes (754 cigarette butts!!), a large portion went to the landfill. However, we did compost and recycle about ⅓ of it, which is not too shabby.
We also donated a few lost toys AND we found two right shoes, which means at least two people walked off the beach wearing only their left shoes. Chicago, you delightful, sometimes overly rowdy city, we are so grateful to be championing for you!
Why it Matters
By partnering with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, we contributed to the largest Great Lakes-specific litter research initiative
The Great Lakes supply drinking water to over 40 million people across the U.S. and Canada
85% of litter collected through the program is plastic, and we helped keep that out of the water
For more than 30 years, Adopt-a-Beach volunteers have worked to keep Great Lakes shorelines healthy, safe, and beautiful. Every year, thousands of volunteers join cleanups on all five Great Lakes and in each of the eight Great Lake states.
Our data was added to the Alliance for the Great Lakes database, which has been collecting invaluable data for 20 years to help purposes, which has been used to help important issues, such as combating plastic pollution.
Want to get Involved?
Find and join an Adopt-a-Beach cleanup near you!
Become a Team Leader and host your own cleanups.
Learn more about Adopt-a-Beach.
Another great initiative we collaborated with was the Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River initiative, which works to reduce the amount of trash harming our waterways by working with community and government leaders to develop strong public policy and comprehensive litter reduction programs. We borrowed one of their new Supply Stations and Litter Free Toolkit, which was great! They also have volunteer clean-up opportunities.
