If you’ve lived in Crystal Lake or the surrounding area for even a short period of time, you’ve most likely established some associations with the Crystal Lake Park District. Maybe hiking through the woods, strolling around the pond, or your kids playing on the playground or splash pad at Veteran Acres comes to mind. Or maybe countless sporting activities out at Lippold Park. Or maybe it is numerous activities and events at the Crystal Lake Park District Main Beach.

We have two Illinois Nature Preserves, a lake with two beaches, a tennis club with a regional draw, a historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a Nature Center with a butterfly house and an impressive 100 years of service to our residents. In addition to providing parks and natural areas, the Park District provides year-round programs, special events, preschool, day camp, Extended Time and facility rentals to resident and non-residents.

Crystal Lake Park District statement

100 Years On Display

Check out these milestones in more detail as well as many others with the Crystal Lake Park District’s Celebrating a Century timeline.

“Research and digital timeline were really rewarding to see what a big part of Crystal Lake the Park District has played over so many years. Being a part of so many people’s memories growing up. The love residents have for Crystal Lake.”

Jenny

Throughout 2021, the Crystal Lake Park District has been celebrating in both big and small ways with lots of appreciation events, pop-up parties in parks, inviting neighbors around, as well as integrating this celebration into the larger ongoing programs and events.

Responsive to the Community

The Park District continues to evolve and adapt, whether that is holding public input sessions with residents for new playgrounds, taking in public feedback and requests to modify plans at Spoerl Park to create 6 outdoor dedicated pickleball courts instead of more tennis courts, or embracing the story of “Camp Crystal Lake” and the Friday the 13th horror movie franchise.

Of course, there is nothing actually connecting the city or lake of Crystal Lake with this movie franchise other than name association. But that doesn’t stop the Park District from having fun and also adopting an activity that helps to break the perception that the Park District is just for kids and families. They look to continue reinforcing this idea with next year’s planned “Flannel Fest” at Main Beach in the fall, featuring a lumberjack show, beard and mustache contests, axe throwing, and more.

The 100-year timeline provides an interesting view of how the Park District has evolved to the times and needs of the community over the years.

Female lifeguards were first employed in 1943 in response to many young men going off to serve in the war. Or the evolution of the Playground Program from 1955 to the Extended Time before and after school program in 1983 and the weekly multi-session Crystal Lake Park District Summer Camp expansion in 1995 to address the changes in society and lifestyle with more and more parents working outside the home, single-parent families, and longer working hours.

“When it comes to new programs, staff is encouraged to bring new program ideas to try new things or adapt old things with a new twist. Park staff researches ideas and stays on top of new trends, as well as talking with customers to continue to evolve existing programs or develop new ones.”

Jenny

Convergence of People, Programs, and Places

What really struck me in speaking with Jenny and digging into the Park District in greater detail is how the Park District exists on a foundation of three main pillars of the people it serves, the programs it offers, and the places (or property) it maintains.

Places

This may be in part due to how the Crystal Lake Park District differs from many other park districts that operate out of a more “central recreation center” that serves as a hub to the community. While a few main places, like Main Beach, Veteran Acres, and Lippold Park may stand out, the Park District spans several properties…maintaining 36 park and natural areas as well as 17 facilities.

In fact, the Crystal Lake Park District stands out because of all its “places.” A combined 1,450 acres of land means that the Park District maintains and provides 2.6 acres of open space for every 100 residents…2.6 times the national average.

Even the most popular places maintain surprises. Main Beach not only has served as a key part of Summer Camp, July 4th fireworks, and the summer concert series, but the Main Beach pavilion is becoming popular for facility rental, special events, as well as multi-purpose uses such as fitness classes overlooking the lake.

Others may associate Lippold Park with a few specific sporting activities without ever being aware of the extensive array of what is available there, including the walking trails, wetlands, and pond; a skate park; mini-golf and driving range; frisbee golf course; batting cages; sand volleyball; as well as home to the Crystal Lake Soccer Federation and 14 soccer pitches; the Mickey Sund Baseball Complex and Tony Capalbo Baseball Complex; the Crystal Lake Raiders Football Fields; Hound Town dog park; the Boncosky Softball Complex; and the Blackhawks Lacrosse Fields.

But there are other facilities that may be more on the fringes unless you’ve directly utilized them. Such as the Racket Club, which is a premier tennis facility offering both indoor and outdoor courts, a pro shop, USPTA Pros, competitive leagues, and lessons for players as young as 3 on up. Jenny says, “The Racket Club has helped develop some of the best local area high school tennis players.”

Or the Colonel Palmer House, which you may well have driven by countless times. Not only does this nationally registered historic place provide a glimpse into the early days of Crystal Lake life through special events, Victorian-era birthday parties, and the Kris Kringle German Holiday Tea, it also serves as home to the Crystal Lake Historical Society.

One of the great challenges for the staff is determining how best to utilize the various resources and facilities at hand. Take Grand Oaks, which became the hub of the dance program, but also serves as the senior center while also hosting some of the fitness programs.

People & Programs

Perhaps the real magic of the Park District comes in weaving together the programs they offer with the people they serve…which truly is a little bit of everything to everybody.

The Park District maintains an extensive list of programs, both seasonal as well as year-round. That could be as early as the preschool offering through the Barlina House Preschool or the Extended Time offering for before and after school hours, as well as the popular Summer Camp program and youth dance or athletics.

But it’s not just about kids and families.

Adults may participate through adult volleyball or softball leagues; yoga, dance, and fitness classes; as well as adult trips to various shows, other attractions around the area, or just fun lunches to meet others.

The Park District has also created specific programs for older adults (55 and up), from trips and fitness classes, to drop-in activities at the Grand Oaks Senior Center for a game of Mah Jongg, dominos, crafting, and beanbag baseball.

If you haven’t seen it or spent much time looking at it, get your hands on one of the Park District’s program guides and peruse the 70+ pages of offerings just for this fall…or the Winter/Spring version that will be coming out in December. Aside from the various age requirements of different programs, the programs and Park District offerings are open to all, residents and non-residents alike. Less than $.05 per dollar of taxes paid goes to the Park District, so much of the funding comes through community donations and program fees.

(For a better understanding of how the CLPD and its programs are funded, see the Annual Report)

Addressing Challenges

COVID-19 presented a whole new set of challenges and obstacles.

The Park District has followed the guidance and adapted offerings as needed throughout the ups and downs of COVID. The overall approach was to minimize disruption as much as possible.

“The executive director and board made a commitment from the start when things were shutting down, that parks were going to remain open and accessible. Also helped to keep more staff on board to maintain everything.”

Jenny

So early on, given what was known at the time, that may have meant keeping parks open, but closing playgrounds. Adapting programs where possible, such as moving traditional indoor activities to the outdoors to the parks or picnic shelters, and implementing registered time slots for other activities to control the number of people or minimize social contact.

But what could have been crippling circumstances, resulted in pulling the team together to react as responsively and creatively as possible. Jenny says, “At the end of last summer, people were up in the air with what was happening with school and I give total credit to Sam Thompson and her staff for the ‘endless summer’ program with weeks getting tacked on and the impact it had on families to be able to return to work but couldn’t have had this not been an option without Day Camp and Extended Time.”

The Crystal Lake Park District employees around 200. Like many organizations, staffing presented new challenges during this time. And staffing is no small matter when you are one of the largest employers of teens and seasonal workers in the area, and your relatively lean staff is made up of about half part-time and seasonal workers.

Where seasonal hiring for the summer in the past often meant turning away more applicants than there were positions, suddenly unprecedented shortages were an issue. Being outside might be safe, but how can you safely open the beach if you can’t staff lifeguards? So you get innovative, such as offering lifeguard training that could lead to potential employment and refunding of class fees.

A View Into the Future

What do the next 100 years hold? Looking over the 100-year timeline, perhaps the safest bet is a whole new set of milestones we can’t possibly imagine.

In the immediate future though, there are of course the less-than-exciting but necessary ongoing maintenance of structural facilities and equipment, and upkeep like repaving, tennis court maintenance, maintaining and updating playgrounds, etc.

There are also nature maintenance and restoration projects that have longer-term benefits that have to be balanced against immediate needs, such as work that was done over the last few years at Fetzner Park or earlier this year at Veteran Acres Park…sometimes necessary but unpopular projects.

They continue to look at ways to further adapt existing offerings, such as enhancements to the Main Beach Pavilion to make it even more useful for event rentals.

And it would seem, they will continue to offer something for all interests and ages.

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It was a real pleasure sitting down with Jenny and I am greatly appreciative of her taking time out of her schedule to do so. I would encourage everyone to “discover something new to you” at the Crystal Lake Park District.

It could be as simple as visiting one of the parks you’ve never been to, or if you’ve never experienced the Nature Center or one of the other facilities, do so. Or look through their Program Guide to find a class, activity, trip, or something else to do.