Friends of the Parks honored two local recipients with 2026 Park Heroes awards last week, recognizing the Promontory Point Conservancy for its advocacy and Washington Park supervisor Janie Collins for her stewardship of South Side parks.
The Chicago-based advocacy organization presented its Advocacy Award to the conservancy and recognized Collins with one of two Park District Employee Awards during a ceremony at the Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. The group serves as a watchdog for the Chicago Park District and Cook County Forest Preserves and helped block construction of the Lucas Museum on park land in 2016.
Introducing Collins, Friends of the Parks board member Nicole Machuca said the Washington Park supervisor has made a “lasting impact” on Washington and Jesse Owens parks. Collins oversees the 372-acre Washington Park, keeping it “clean, welcoming, safe and well serviced” and making it “one of the best-run parks in the city,” Machuca said.
When Machuca announced the Promontory Point Conservancy as the winner of the 2026 Advocacy Award, the roughly 80 attendees burst into applause.
The conservancy, formerly known as Save the Point, has fought since 2001 to preserve Promontory Point’s historic limestone revetment amid plans by the city and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the lakefront with concrete. Its advocacy helped secure the Point’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018 and its designation as a Chicago landmark in 2023. The group continues to negotiate with the city, Park District and Army Corps over future construction along the lakefront.
"For 26 years, Jack Spicer and Deborah Hammond have led the Promontory Point Conservancy in educating, advocating for and stewarding Promontory Point," Machuca said. "They've taken on the Park District and Army Corps of Engineers through public education, lobbying and environmental policy work to protect the South Lakefront."
Other Park Heroes award recipients included Peter Norman of Pottawattamie Park, who received the Stewardship Award; Shemeka and Decoteau Irby of Lillian Hardin Armstrong Park, who received the Park Advisory Council Award; Connie Baznik of Unity Park and Ana Solano, Citlalic Jeffers-Peña and Saul Carino of Cumbia en el Parque, who each received a Park Programming Award; the Shedd Aquarium, which received the Community Group Award; and Chicago Park District Chief Operating Officer Patrick Levar, who also received a Park District Employee Award.