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Chubby the River Chubb Takes His Place in Blacksburg's 4th of July Parade

This Saturday a new icon will join the tradition in a forth of July parade. Along with the birthday cakes for America and various incarnations of things red, white and blue, will be a little known character, who symbolizes protection of rivers and streams in Virginia and beyond.

Shannon Ritter has a huge fish in her garage.

Actually it’s a, 10-foot long hand made model of a River Chubb, a small fish in real life that has a big impact on the environment. Ritter knew the power of a symbol to spread the message of protecting waterways. With help from local environmental and community organizations, she and her fellow Master Naturalists began building him six months ago out of …

“… chicken wire, little bit of wood, ironing board fabric, he has an inflatable yoga exercise ball in his midriff to keep him plump.”

The finishing touch was a colorful paint job and now Chubby is ready to float down Main Street, Blacksburg in Saturday’s Fourth of July Parade.

"We tried to really replicate when they’re in their breeding coloration. Same with all these other fish pink and red and yellows and things like that but that’s what they are. You don’t have to go to the tropics to see beautiful fish. They’re right here in our streams."

Those other fish will float with him in tribute since the Chubb does them a huge favor with his hard work every spring. As Aquatic biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Mike Pinder explains, Chubs are the architects of the minnow world, constructing mound of stones for females to lay their eggs.

He starts his mound building by excavation. It’s like a house. You know you have to excavate a good foundation and then he’ll start to carry these stones in. And some of these mounds have over 10 thousand stones.”

And all this building attracts other small fish kind of like when your neighbor starts a construction project and everyone comes around to watch. And these other fish are planning a housewarming party of their own, because after the female Chubs lay their eggs in these mounds, other minnows do the same thing.

Credit Shannon Ritter
Chubby the River Chub

Pindar says, “And you would think, why would this fish allow all these free loaders to come and spawn on his mound. Well first of all, it’s a great place to lay your eggs and the Chub doesn’t chase them away because he knows that when all these other fish lay their eggs on the mound that the chances that any one of his eggs are going to be eaten by a predator is actually going to decrease."

But Pindar points out, as more rivers and streams fill up with sediment, washed in after rainstorms, the Chubb has to build higher and higher to create the perfect spawning mound.

So it’s important for storm water management to make sure that we slow the water up, either by using rain barrels, rain gardens and more porous driveways or whatever we can do so to slow that water up if it does finally get into the river, it’s the correct amount so it doesn’t hurt the fish and let that water infiltrate back into the ground and recharge the ground water.”

So it’s up to Chubby the mound building River Chubb to spread the word about protecting the smallest streams to the largest rivers.. Shannon Ritter hopes he will take his place in the pantheon of environmental symbols and after his July 4th debut, float in the Christmas parade this winter. The beautifully painted giant and his smaller painted friends could easily grace the walls of an art gallery, but if Ritter can’t find a place to store him before his next gig.

She says, “Well I usually hang my kayak here and I may be hanging him over the back of the garage. We did think about hanging him in my living room. I mean, at this point, he is quite beautiful, but his underside is not his best feature.”

Chubby the Mound Building Chub will ride on a flatbed trailer donated for the July 4th Parade in Blacksburg by the Ruritan Club which is sponsoring the parade. Support for building materials came from Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Virginia Chapter of the American Fisheries Association.  

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.
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