A New Chapter for Stream of Dreams

A New Chapter for Stream of Dreams

26 Years of Fish, Fences, Dreams — and What Comes Next

After 26 years, I have retired from my role as Executive Director of Stream of Dreams Murals Society.

It is a strange and wonderful thing to write those words.

When Stream of Dreams began in 2000, I had a feeling we were onto something. I knew that painting fish on fences could give children a creative way to understand where their water goes and why fish habitat matters.

What I didn't imagine was the national interest it would eventually generate, or that those first Dreamfish would travel so far beyond the community where the idea began.

What started locally became a 26-year journey that reached communities across Canada, into the United States and as far as Japan.

I was 45 years old, a mother and a visual merchandiser by background. Following the toxic material spill that killed aquatic life in Byrne Creek, I began asking a simple question:

How do we help people see the connection between what happens on our streets and what happens in our waterways?

The answer became fish.

Wooden fish painted by children and communities, placed on fences near storm drains as colourful reminders that All Drains Lead to Fish Habitat.

I knew the idea was powerful.

I just didn't know how far the Dreamfish would swim.

The Little Girl at the Beginning

There is someone who belongs at the very heart of this story: my daughter, Chanel.

When this journey began, Chanel was nine years old. She watched her mother become increasingly passionate about an idea that seemed to grow larger every year.

And it was Chanel who coined the name Stream of Dreams.

That name captured something I was trying to express — that a stream could carry dreams, and that children could become part of caring for the water and the places around them.

Chanel was also one of the reasons I persevered.

There were difficult years, financial pressures, long days and many moments when walking away might have been easier. But I kept going because I believed in the work — and because I wanted my daughter to see what can happen when you believe strongly enough in an idea to keep showing up.

She grew up alongside Stream of Dreams.

And now, 26 years later, the little girl who helped name it has watched the Dreamfish swim far beyond what either of us could have imagined.

That feels very special to me.

The Copper Thread

I am Cowlitz Métis, and the idea of a thread connecting people, place, memory and generations has become increasingly meaningful to me.

I think of it as a copper thread.

Copper carries energy. It conducts. It connects one point to another.

For me, my Cowlitz Métis copper thread runs through me and into the Dreamfish — connecting who I am, the places that have shaped me, and the work that has occupied so much of my life.

Perhaps that thread has been there all along.

From the street to the stream.

From child to parent.

From one generation to the next.

From memory into action.

Looking back, I can see that connection has always been at the heart of the work.

A Different Role

Retirement doesn't mean walking away from Stream of Dreams.

It means changing my relationship with it.

I have stepped away from the day-to-day responsibilities of running the organization and into a role that feels much more fitting for this next chapter:

Brand Steward.

I like that title because it feels honest.

A steward is someone who cares for something — protecting its integrity, honouring its history and helping it move into the future.

I am no longer responsible for carrying every operational responsibility, solving every problem or making every decision. And I'm ready to let that go.

But I remain deeply connected to the story, the vision and the legacy of Fish on Fences.

My role now is to remember, protect, connect and guide.

There is a history behind the Dreamfish. There is a body of creative work, a methodology, a visual identity and a simple message that has resonated for more than two decades:

All Drains Lead to Fish Habitat.

I want to help protect the integrity of that story while allowing the Dreamfish to continue evolving.

A legacy has to be allowed to breathe.

My Deepest Gratitude

There are far too many people to name individually, but some belong at the very beginning of this story.

Joan Carne and the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers were part of the early spark that helped set this journey in motion. I will always be grateful for their belief, commitment and the work we shared in those formative years.

And to the teachers who opened their classrooms, the parents who volunteered, the artists and Dreamfish makers, community leaders, environmental organizations, funders and partners — thank you.

To the fish cutters who took an idea and gave it a physical form, creating the wooden fish that became the carriers of our message — thank you.

To the staff who carried the work when I couldn't, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who picked up a fish and made it their own — thank you.

And to my family — thank you for living this journey alongside me.

You have lived with the late nights, weekends, phone calls, celebrations, disappointments, uncertainty and the endless fish.

You have watched Stream of Dreams grow from an idea into something that became a very large part of my life.

I could not have done this without you.

And Chanel — thank you for giving the Dreamfish their name, and for being one of the reasons I kept going when the road became difficult.

And Now…

Twenty-six years is a long time.

There have been extraordinary moments, difficult moments, unexpected challenges and many moments of joy. Building something that lasts is never a straight line.

But when I look back, what I see most clearly are the people.

The children with paint on their hands.

The teachers who believed in the idea.

The communities that came together.

The people who stopped long enough to ask where their storm drain went.

And the Dreamfish — travelling from one fence to another, carrying a message that was always bigger than the wooden shape itself.

I see that copper thread running quietly through it all — connecting people to place, memory and one another.

I don't know exactly what the next chapter will look like.

For the first time in a very long time, I'm comfortable with that.

There will be time to travel, create, write, spend time with family and simply see what emerges when life isn't organized around the next deadline.

And perhaps there will be new adventures for the Dreamfish too.

So, yes, I am retiring.

But the Dreamfish?

They're still swimming.

And I'll be watching over them from my new place as their Brand Steward — grateful for where they've been, proud of what we've created together, curious about where they'll go next, and finally ready to give myself a little room to swim too.

— Louise Towell Creator and Co-Founder, Stream of Dreams Fish on Fences Brand Steward