Volunteers needed for Fox River cleanup event that starts Saturday morning in Yorkville’s Riverfront Park

The Conservation Foundation is hosting a cleanup event from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, in Yorkville as part of “It’s Our Fox River Day.”

The Yorkville cleanup will start at Riverfront Park, 201 E. Hydraulic St., Yorkville. The event is in partnership with the Kendall County Outdoor Education Center, Yorkville Parks and Recreation, and the city of Yorkville. Advance registration is encouraged. Visit theconservationfoundation.org/event/2022-fox-river-cleanup-yorkville to register.

The Kendall County Outdoor Education Center will bring canoes for a group of volunteers to use in order to access some of the hard-to-reach islands near downtown Yorkville considered litter hot spots.

Trash bags and collection tools will be provided. Volunteers are asked to provide their own gloves. Experienced canoeists and kayakers are welcome to bring their own boats.

“It’s Our Fox River Day” is an annual event occurring on the third Saturday in September that is coordinated by Friends of the Fox River. For this day, designated by multiple municipalities and counties, river cleanups and community celebrations will take place in towns along the Fox River from Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Ottawa, Illinois.

More than 200 volunteers supported these two cleanup locations in 2021, resulting in the group’s largest Fox River trash collections to date.

Email Cassie Hatzfeld at chatzfeld@theconservationfoundation.org with questions or to coordinate a large group of volunteers for the event.