Name: Piggies on the River: The Royal Chicago River Pigs-in-a-Blanket Winter Festival
Start: 2025-01-17T06:00:00-06:00
End: 2025-01-17T10:00:00-06:00
Location: Urban Rivers

Piggies on the River: The Royal Chicago River Pigs-in-a-Blanket Winter Festival

Historically, January 17th is the coldest day of the year in Chicago. So that seems like the best time to stand outside, on the water, and eat pigs-in-a-blanket. Or pigs-in-a-snuggie. Or something like that. Sausages in crescent rolls. Anyway, that’s what we’ll be doing the morning of Friday, January 17, at the Wild Mile, Urban Rivers’ floating garden on the Chicago River. The pigs, which are being donated by Gunthorp Farms, will be swaddled by Chef Javauneeka Jacobs of Frontera Grill. They’ll be swaddled in pastry dough contributed by Francisco’s Produce and heated on grills and griddles from Weber Grills. They’ll be covered in syrup courtesy of our friends at BLiS, the source for handcrafted, sustainable, natural gourmet food ingredients. And we’ll be drinking the finest brews from Dark Matter Coffee, delicious natural juices from Greenwood Associates, and Chicago’s own Jeppson’s Malort, the only liqueur you’d want to drink while on the water in Chicago on the coldest day of the year.
The event is being organized to bring attention to the Wild Mile, a three-year-old project that Urban Rivers developed to restore habitat for native wildlife and improve the river's environmental condition. It also provides access to the river for Chicago residents who want to kayak, fish, or connect with nature. It serves as home to all manner of wildlife, including the viral snapping turtle, Chonkosaurus.
All Chicagoans are invited to join us from 6 to 10am on Friday, January 17, for some pre-work piggy festivities. It’s entirely free, though donations for Urban Rivers are welcomed.