At the Monday, October 14 Park Board meeting, members of the Elmhurst Garden Club presented a check to the District for $3,000, raised during the Garden Walk and Faire, held in July.

Penny O’Neill, Garden Walk & Faire Committee Chair, thanked the District for the support they provide during this annual event.

“We want to thank the Park District,” O’Neill said, “We can't make this happen without you.”

Next year will be the Elmhurst Garden Club’s 25th walk and the organization looks forward to a continued partnership with the Park District.

At the September 23, 2019 meeting of the Elmhurst Park District Board of Park Commissioners, the board approved a contract to purchase a 16-acre site located at 837 Riverside Drive as the potential home of a new indoor sports facility as part of Vision 2020. The purchase price is $15 million, and the contract is contingent on a successful March 2020 referendum. Park District staff will now begin the due diligence process.

With the roll out of Vision 2020, six key goals emerged including improved condition and maintenance of parks and amenities. To align with that goal, a fence improvement project will begin soon at Berens and Van Voorst parks. The project is based on athletic field park assessments that were completed during the Vision 2020 process.

The Park Board emphasized the importance of safety and the ability to improve access to the Salt Creek Greenway Trail at the May 13 Park Board meeting, where they approved providing a letter of support to the City of Elmhurst in its plan to construct a pedestrian/bike bridge crossing over Route 83. The proposed bridge will extend over Route 83 from the North Graue Woods neighborhood to Cricket Creek Forest Preserve in order to link north Elmhurst to the Salt Creek Greenway Trail.

During the March 11, 2019 Park Board Meeting, board members approved plans for the redevelopment of Salt Creek Park Playground. Details of the plan include replacing the existing playground with new blue and green equipment that allows for more climbing opportunities, providing additional shaded seating with good sight lines, replacing the wood chips with rubber safety surface and providing more shade trees.

The playground will also feature a Friendship Swing, a one size fits all multi-user swing that allows kids and adults to swing together!

Residents can expect to see changes to the first day of registration for Elmhurst Park District programs beginning with the winter season. Based on feedback from residents, the decision was made to hold gymnastics registration on a separate day and time in an effort to reduce the high volume on the District’s current software system.

A survey was recently conducted to gauge the best day and time for gymnastics registration. Overwhelmingly, residents chose Saturday, December 1 at 8:00 a.m. Registration for general programs will then be held on Saturday, December 8 at 8:00 a.m.

Two seats for a six-year term on the Elmhurst Park District Board of Commissioners are up for election in the Consolidated Election on April 2, 2019. Candidates may pick up packets at the Elmhurst Park District Administrative Office at 375 W. First St., from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Candidate petitions or certificates of nomination will be accepted beginning December 10, 2018 through December 17, 2018 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

On Monday, August 13, Elmhurst Park District and Elmhurst College representatives came together to celebrate the completion of the recently renovated turf fields at Berens Park. The fields have proven themselves to be mutually beneficial to both organizations and the Elmhurst community as a whole and are a great tribute to the partnership between the two entities.

“The Elmhurst Park District Board and staff look forward to continuing to work with Elmhurst College in the future as we identify additional opportunities to partner,” said Park District Executive Director Jim Rogers.