February Feels 💕
Merch, feedback, and more!
Make Your Voice Heard!
Give your thoughts on public programs!
The river community needs YOUR feedback! Here are two chances to give your two cents on all things river-related.
URBAN RIVERS PROGRAMMING SURVEY
We’re gearing up for another great year of public programs, and we want to make them as interesting and accessible as possible! Fill out this survey to let us know your thoughts.
CHICAGO PARKS DISTRICT “PICTURE YOUR PARKS” SURVEY
Urban Rivers operates programs out of Park 571, and we’ll soon be launching programming at River Park! Park space is at a premium on the river, so it’s important that the park hears your feedback on the accessibility and approachability of a space.
New Urban Rivers Swag
Merch is back!
Do you want to look as cool as our River Rangers? Do you need a valentines day gift for your river-loving sweetie? Check out our merch! After a bit of a hiatus, our website store is back online. We have some new designs and some old ones, including this logo beanie that will keep you warm for the rest of winter (modeled here by the fantastic Dom Amato). We’ll also be dropping some awesome never-before-seen designs later this year, so stay tuned. Check out our merch here.
Steam at 0ºF?
The science behind the sight
Though rare in Chicago, this sight is common in circumstances where the water temperature is significantly higher than the air temperature. Air holds water vapor, which is constantly produced by any liquid through the process of evaporation. However, cold air has a much lower capacity for water vapor than warm air. At well below zero, the air has barely any capacity to hold water vapor - this leads to a process called condensation, which can often create visible steam. When water temperature is above freezing, as it was during the January cold snap, the warm surface of the water creates a thin layer of air that is much warmer than the overall air temperature. Water vapor, unable to become incorporated into the bitterly cold air above, condenses in this space and creates swirling, steamy patterns such as those we observed from the Wild Mile in mid-January (pictured above).
Office Insights
A love sonnet
Bubba Tucker, our honorable Head of Goose Relations, has a complicated relationship with geese. So complex that even the wonders of modern technology can not fully capture it. But with Valentines Day rapidly approaching, it would be a crime not to try. Hopefully this composition by ChatGTP does him justice.
In this world of greens and blues,
I, Bubba, with my doggy views,
Share my days with a goose so fair,
A creature of the air, with whom I share.
My fur, as dark as the midnight sky,
Meets her feathers, white as a lie.
A dance we lead of snarl and nudge,
In love and spite, we never budge.
I watch her glide with graceful might,
A vision in the soft sunlight.
Yet, in her gaze, a challenge lies,
A storm brewing in clear blue skies.
We romp and race through fields so wide,
With moments sweet, and some snide.
A push, a pull, in our daily dance,
In every look, both chance and stance.
She pecks and preens, a sight so rare,
I bark and bound, without a care.
Yet, in her eyes, a spark I see,
A mirror of the heart in me.
A tale of us, dog and goose,
In a bond, both tight and loose.
In her, a rival and a friend,
In this dance, with no clear end.