With over 700 acres of land, 45 parks, four beaches and nine facilities, the Park District of Highland Park is one of the largest and certainly one of the most diverse districts in Illinois. 

View a summary of the Park District’s progress in 2021, in our Annual Report. 

Blast off!

The iconic Rocket Ship playground for 5-12 year-olds is now open for play! Visit it today at Sunset Woods Park! (1801 Sunset Rd) An interpretive sign at the playground tells the story of the rocketship’s importance to the Highland Park community. The playground is adjacent to a new nature-themed playground for 2-5 year-olds and a new seating plaza which opened earlier this summer. The seating plaza was funded by the Parks Foundation of Highland Park.
Stay tuned for an official grand opening event of the playgrounds and seating plaza announcement coming soon!

Thank you for your patience throughout construction!

Watch a short fly-over video!

At the August 10th Board Meeting, the Park District of Highland Park Board of Commissioners gave approval for an unexpected and necessary replacement of the Centennial Ice Arena rink floor.

During regular annual maintenance in June, staff uncovered an unknown issue on the Centennial rink floor. The Park District acted swiftly to conduct an exhaustive investigation of the facility and ice flooring system with an engineering firm. The findings confirmed that the building is structurally sound. However, the rink floor had been compromised and requires complete replacement.  

The rink floor emergency replacement project is estimated to cost approximately $1.5m. The Park Board awarded the project to Ice Builders, Inc, headquartered in Liverpool, New York. Ice Builders has completed several successful ice-skating rink installations in the Chicago area, including the Glenview Ice Center and Skokie Skatium Ice Rink, and successfully completed a project for the Park District of Highland Park at Centennial in 2003. The Centennial project begins immediately and will take approximately six months to complete.  

During the project, Centennial Ice Center will remain closed. This is very disappointing for our Park District, our participants, and the community. Our top priority is to deliver essential recreation programs to our community safely. To this end, we have several options for our skaters:

Off-Ice Programs – Students can improve athleticism by working on flexibility, core strength, balance, and jump techniques to enhance their on-ice performance. Programs will be held this Fall at the Recreation Center of Highland Park. Learn more and register.

On-Ice Programs – We have partnered with the Winnetka Park District to provide Learn-to-Skate programs for our skaters this Fall at the Winnetka Ice Arena ( 490 Hibbard, Winnetka, IL). The Winnetka Park District is also generously extending resident rates to Highland Park residents for their Fall Learn-to-Skate programs. Learn more and register for Winnetka Learn-to-Skate classes.

On-Ice Hockey Programs – Looking to learn how to play hockey? Register for on-ice programs with the Falcons. Contact Nick Meo, Falcons Hockey Association, at [email protected] for more information.

An expeditious replacement of the Centennial ice rink floor is a priority for the Park District so we can reopen the facility for our skating families. We will keep residents and our Centennial ice participants updated on the replacement of the rink floor timeline and progress. 

In a separate but related project, bids were considered at the Park Board of Commissioner’s August 10th Finance Committee meeting to renovate the Centennial Ice Center lobby, multi-purpose room, locker rooms, office space, restrooms, and parking lot.  The contract award for this renovation project is expected at the August Park Board meeting, and construction is anticipated to start in Sept.

Find updates and more information on the Centennial Ice Arena Renovation and Rink Replacement projects.

The Park District’s gymnastics programs will continue to be offered at Lincoln School, located at 711 Lincoln Ave. Register for fall gymnastics classes.