By Chris Gadsden

A number of local organizations turned out to The Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve Annex on Wednesday night (April 30th, 2003) to paint a Dreamfish. The Chilliwack River Action Committee, The Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association, and Chilliwack Field Naturalists were three of the local groups that participated in painting a Dreamfish and shared in the dreams of healthy streams and rivers. The evening of fish painting was co-coordinated by Bob Thomas of the Fraser Valley Regional Watershed Coalition.

The mission of Stream of Dreams Mural is to educate communities about the life and functions to their watersheds, rivers, and streams, while dazzling them with the charm of community art.

The Stream of Dreams first started in Burnaby in 1998, when someone put a toxic material into a storm drain. It killed everything in Byrne Creek,including an estimated 5,000 fish. Two years later, local resident Louise Towell was horrified when a building at Edmonds and Kingsway was torn down and a chain link fence was put up. The area looked like a war zone.

Ms Towell and her daughter Chanel thought about what could be done to improve the site. They remembered how a wooden fence at the Broadway Skytrain had a mural painted on it.

The Stream of Dreams was spawned as the pair decided to bring Bryne Creek to the fence and bring the 5,000 fish killed at the creek back to life symbolically. The 5,000 wooden fish were painted, and by BC Rivers Day in September 2000, painted fish were attached to the fence in Burnaby.

Since the year 2000, Stream of Dreams Murals have successfully educated and delighted thousands of people in communities throughout BC. Children, adults, politicians, and media have been introduced to their watersheds, creeks, rivers, and storm drains and experienced the magic of painting a Dreamfish.

The Dreamfish painted in Chilliwack will accompany 800 to 1000 others to Ottawa to be installed on a prominent chain link fence with signs explaining the murals and thanking sponsors. The Murals will be unveiled on the first National Rivers Day on June 8, 2003. For more information on the Stream of Dreams project, visit www.streamsofdreams.org.