On September 17, 2022
Thousands of YOU helped us celebrate our Fox River
This year’s It’s Our Fox River Day (IOFRD) was the largest watershed event demonstrating a unified effort of caring for our Fox River.
Over 50 Event Hosts Spanning 200 Miles
Thank you for helping us reach our goal of 1000 participants!
We need YOU to help us reach our goal of 100 events organizers for IOFRD 2023. Stay tuned for more information.
The Fox River Watershed map below highlights events that happened across the 200-mile span of the river. The map works best in full screen mode. Zoom in to see where events were hosted. Click on a logo to see event details. Click the icon in the top left corner to open the index.
Join Us in Celebrating the Fox River
FOTFR and its partners are organizing events that include celebrations along the entire Fox River like municipal proclamation signing, shoreline yoga, flower blessing ceremony, art & music making, paddling parties, and the standard trash clean-ups.
Host a River Celebration Event
Friends of the Fox River (FOTFR) invites you and your affiliates to develop an event for IOFRD. Your registration will enable watershed-wide advertisement and organization of all of the collective events. FOTFR will help hosts plan and implement their event. Contact FOTFR @ info@FOTFR.org or call 815.385.6605 for questions and assistance with event planning.
IOFRD is pronounced “I offered” – a day intended to be both an individual and collective event that offers a thank you to the Fox River. The concept originated as a 200-mile cleanup to symbolize the need for a unified approach to protect and restore a watershed. IOFRD has evolved to include celebrations hat go beyond the standard trash removal. It is intended to grow awareness throughout the entire watershed for the need to work collaboratively to protect and restore the health of the Fox River. It is also an opportunity for residents to be able to say, “I offered” thanks to my Fox River.
Without interruption the Fox River serves over 1,000,000 watershed residents every day. It carries the wastewater and stormwater from over 100 communities, and provides drinking water for over 300,000 residents. It also provides habitat for a diversity of plants and animals and is an exceptional resource for boaters, paddlers, anglers, hikers and photographers. All the while, the Fox River brings economic value through its aesthetic appeal to every riverfront community.
Managing a resource that crosses a state line and several municipal borders is a huge challenge. FOTFR’s founder, Pat Reese called for a unified effort for watershed management in 1988. It’s Our Fox River Day is a step in that direction.