We have a SMALL stream in front of our house. Our yard is about 1.5 football fields long, the stream along the whole front. Every year, the weeds really are a pain. We weed whack along the stream on both sides.. which is a lot of time. I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas as to how to make it look more appealing? Clean edges!!

Opposite of clean edges, but look into native plant nurseries in your area. Mine has a "shoreline stabilization" preplanned garden you can buy that would make really good use of this space.
Metal blade