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One of the areas that Julie Nichols, our Recreation Program Manager, and Chris Holling, our Recreation Supervisor for Youth Enrichment & Arts, began to focus on a couple of years ago was the creation of a Dance program at the Park District that filled a need in the community.
After running some free workshops and talking with those participants to better understand what they wanted from the district, they built a program that grew to include more than 200 dancers—in just 9 months. Is it fun? You bet. Is it providing a place for young performers to express themselves? Without a doubt. Is it successful? On more levels than you would think.
Dance is one of the Performing Arts that benefits all ages in ways that go way beyond just physical strength, movement, and flexibility. In our program, dancers learn about good nutrition and how to combine that with proper stretching and strengthening routines. Dancing is an excellent outlet for their creativity, and they get support for that from their peers. That builds self-confidence and self-esteem which can carry over into so many other areas of their lives.
Our Spring 2023 Dance Recital, held onstage at Northwood Middle School, was attended by more than 400 of the dancers’ family members and friends. Confidence poured from the stage. That’s what a well-crafted program can do when it’s run by Park District staff who care deeply for the participants. We know that many of our Cultural and Performing Arts programs are the first step on the road to the next level. That’s what you’ve told us you want, and that’s how the programs are designed. But even if your child is a budding Yo-Yo Ma, or Baryshnikov, or Kristin Chenoweth, they need a place to start where they get the support they need—and still have fun. That’s us. That’s what we do, every day.
Just as our Music program feeds the brain, so does our Dance program. And while your dancing brain is lighting up, here are some other well-documented things that are happening:
We hope knowing some of that makes you want to get up and dance. We’ll join you down at the Ozdust Ballroom!
2 Science confirms: Dancing makes you happy. Read the article here.
As cold weather approaches, the Park District of Highland Park and City of Highland Park are partnering with the Community Care Collective of Chicago’s 33rd Ward to collect much-needed items for asylum seekers arriving in Chicago.
More than 18,000 migrants, mostly from Central and South America, have come to Chicago since last fall. Hundreds continue to arrive daily in need of shelter and supplies. Together, we can make a difference and extend a warm welcome to those who are seeking refuge and a brighter future.
For Men, Women, and Children (Lightly Used/Clean OR New):
For many families in Highland Park and Highwood, their Park District is the place for recreation and healthy activities, including music lessons!
Ask Sonia Rochon, and she’ll focus on something you might not think of as what we do here: how much her son Desmond loves taking piano lessons at the Park District! Sonia and her family moved to Highland Park from Chicago in 2019. In addition to taking other fun classes at West Ridge Center, Desmond, who is now in 4th grade, has been studying piano for the past year. “He really likes his teacher,” said Sonia. We hear that a lot about our teachers, and it’s something we’re quite proud of. “He’s come a long way in a short time,” said Sonia, “and I feel like he’s gotten a great start for everything moving forward.”
She also agreed with some other things that music educators have always known, and that we stress in our program: learning to read music is akin to learning and communicating in another language, and playing an instrument activates parts of the brain that are strikingly different than the ones we use when listening to music. That can help students, of any age, be more successful in other areas of academics and socialization. Research on the neurobiological effects of music on the brain has shown that the process by which we hear and interpret musical sounds is quite complex and that different types of music, and different musical instruments, activate different areas of the brain. So, while you have always known that playing piano, guitar, or violin is certainly a physical activity with great benefits to manual dexterity, and a mental activity that increases your ability to concentrate and memorize, now you can add brain development to the reasons why taking lessons is good for your health and happiness1. Sweet!
Of course, we never forget that music lessons at the Park District are fun! Check them out and we think you’ll agree.
1 Here is some extra special “This is your brain on music” fun: Dr. David Silbersweig of the Harvard Medical School has written about these specific areas of the brain and what they do as far as playing and listening to music: The temporal lobe helps us understand tone and pitch. Our cerebellum helps us process rhythm and timing. The amygdala and hippocampus are responsible for emotions and memory.
Coach Wally Kormylo, who passed away on October 3rd was a legendary figure in the Highland Park hockey community. During his 76-year career, beginning as a player in Canada and then moving to the states at 20 years old as part of a traveling ice show—jumping barrels and performing other tricks on skates—hockey was always his passion. As a coach, he helped dozens of aspiring players become well-known greats. “I worked with Wayne Gretzky up in Canada for two weeks, an hour every day, to work on his skating. My profession was power skating, making hockey players faster,” said Coach in a recent interview.
We all knew Coach Wally at Centennial Ice Arena, where he taught generations of young hockey players in the Falcons Hockey Association, and won more than 20 State Championships. “Everyone was excited,” he said.
Nick Meo, who was a Facilities Manager for the Park District for more than 15 years, remembers Coach very fondly. “I first met Wally Kormylo over 40 years ago when I was first learning the sport. Wally, like my father, was instrumental in my love for the game of hockey. Through the years, he became more than just my coach. He was a mentor, a friend, and most importantly, an inspiration to me and thousands of kids and families in the hockey community. He was a true legend. I went to visit him in the hospital just before he passed and his final words to me were “I will try to make it to practice tomorrow.” Wally was a pioneer in the hockey industry, and he will be missed by all.”
Coach was well known for his inspirational phrase: “Skate Fast. Skate Hard. Have Fun.” We promise to do just that every time we circle the rink at Centennial.
Thank you to all of our residents and staff who donated to the Shop ‘N Drop Food Drive, in partnership with SaLT: Service and Learning Together and the Highland Park/Highwood Rotary Club!
Pre-packaged food donations were collected to provide groceries to Highland Park and Highwood families facing food insecurities from Monday, August 14 to Sunday, September 10. The Park District collected over 1,000 items to help feed 75 families in need. Roughly 30 volunteers including 12 Park District employees volunteered on Friday, September 15 to sort and stuff grocery bags and then deliver them to local families in need.
The food drive and service event have contributed to:
In a thank you email from SaLT organizers, “These numbers are not just statistics; they represent the lives we’ve touched, the families we’ve supported, and the countless hours of service provided by our incredible team of Shop ‘N Drop Superheroes. None of this would have been possible without your collaboration and support.”
For many gardeners, the first signs of fall in the garden bring a mix of emotions—a look forward to the marvelous array of colors and textures that will soon be on full display, and the signal that another gardening season is coming to a close. If you look closely at the goldenrods in the next few weeks you will see an insect bonanza—all shapes and sizes coming together to feast on the last flowers of the season with their abundant pollen and nectar. Asters serve a similar purpose, drawing late season butterflies and many bee species to buzz pollinate their way around the disc florets at the center of each flower. It’s really fun to watch!
This is a perfect time to begin collecting seeds from Baptisia, Penstemon, Echinacea, Eurybia and others that can be cleaned, stored, and stratified (a pre-treatment using cold moist conditions) to be ready for germinating late winter and early spring, or sowing late fall—there will be many more to gather before the heavy rain and winds of fall do their thing. It is also the perfect time to stand back and assess your garden for form, function and to make some choices on any adjustments needed now or for the coming year.
First up, we must decide what to do with the current fading flowers, stems and leaves. My advice is to be selective. While even I cannot help myself from cutting back the gnarly remains of some species, plants like Echinacea have parts that provide great function if left in place (or partially in place) over winter and into the following year. Two common species of Echinacea, E. purpurea (purple coneflower) and E. pallida (pale purple coneflower), both appear to provide just as much function after flower as they do while in full bloom. They have large hollow stems that if cut to a height of 18” or more become potential nesting for native bees, and the flowers mature into dark orbs packed full of large seeds that will attract a chattery bunch of goldfinches.
Grasses such as Sprobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed) or Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem) develop beautiful golden tones with seed heads that sway in the late season winds. These grasses (among others) provide food and nesting for small birds and other animals. So, if you are ok with hosting this bit of wildlife, leave the grasses in place until late winter, at which time you can steady the hedge trimmer, shears or pruners and chop them back to about 6”.
If you are looking to up your late-season spectacle, think asters! Symphyotrichum leaeve (smooth aster) and Symphyotrichum oolentangiense (sky blue aster) are two garden favorites and are beautiful planted in with warm-toned fall grasses. Consider species with structural seed heads such as Monarda fistulosa (bee balm), Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover), and Parthenium integrifolium (wild quinine) among others. And of course, if you are planning to add something to your garden this season or next, it really should be native—for the bees, for the butterflies, for ourselves and our kids.
Leave the leaves!
There is so much happening in the fallen leaves that collect in the garden: Beneficial insects overwinter in this debris, and many organisms feed on this matter as they help to build heathy garden soil. Make sure your garden looks good to you—and your neighbors—and squeeze in some added environmental benefits whenever possible.
Liz is a professional horticulturist, observer, artist and writer, and co-owner of North Branch Natives, an education-focused native plant nursery.
The Park District is always developing and testing new programs based on community feedback and trends — whether it is a new program topic, a different time of day, day of the week, or even a different age group. Every season, we add several new classes to the list of offerings that we think you’ll enjoy based on resident suggestions. We try to include fitness trends and other recreational activities for adults. We add nature classes and adventures for kids and families. And we’re always looking at when classes are offered, to better fit your schedule. Whether or not the classes run is most often based on how many people register, but sometimes we hold a class with just a few participants and then tweak it to get more responses.
So, we thought you might like to know a bit about how we create and try out new programs.
Julie Nichols, our Recreation Program Manager, has been working on the question ‘what kinds of Park District classes do Highland Park residents want,’ since she joined the district two years ago. “Even though I had worked in Parks & Recreation on the Northshore for many years, it was critically important for me to understand the Highland Park and Highwood communities.”
Throughout the first year, she offered one-day workshops for a number of different programs, as a way of testing and evaluating the response. “I was in the room during all of those sessions, so I could see and hear what the participants were interested in, and what they wanted to add to the park district program lineup.” She invited them to share their feedback, and they did. “Parents and grandparents told me that they were looking for more weekend options, more programs after 5pm, and that they really wanted more art, music, and dance classes.” Discussions also included adding STEM classes, and that resulted in offering Coding and Engineering with Legos. Julie added, “Online surveys don’t really bring in great response numbers. But talking to residents face-to-face really gives me a chance to listen, and for them to know they’ve been heard.”
Julie, along with Chris Holling, the district’s Recreation Supervisor for Youth Enrichment & Arts also hired a new Dance Coordinator and tested response to a brand new dance program. They held a free, one-day workshop where parents and prospective students could meet the instructor and get a feel for what the program would offer. Then they ran a short summer program. Was it a success? Within 9 months the program had 200 dancers participating in a Spring Recital where more than 400 family members and friends came to applaud! We call that show a big hit.
“We were able to deliver what everyone was looking for, all because we listened to people,” said Nichols. “Our niche is to provide something that anyone at any age can try for the first time. Here, you’ll be celebrated for your choice, you’ll learn something in the classroom, and you’ll be inspired to do more. We hope our participants will want to continue and perhaps move to a next level program, but what we provide is the first stepping stone.” That’s how we do it here at your park district.
In her second year, based on more one-on-one discussions, Julie, along with Chris, launched a whole new set of performing arts classes. This summer they ran a specialty camp called Take the Stage, designed for kids ages 1–4. “Campers enjoyed the full range of traditional summer activities, like swimming and sports, but we featured things that we heard would appeal to ‘theater kids,’ including stage direction, music direction, choreography, and prop construction. It was a great success!” Julie’s favorite Take the Stage memory? “Seeing the pride and confidence on the campers’ faces as they performed.” As they looked ahead to creating a fall theater program lineup, Julie and Chris asked the Take the Stage counselors to write a personal note to each family. “Those letters were so important, because we were able to tell moms and dads that their child had shown a particular interest in music, or dance, or acting, and we could recommend that they look at one of the new classes we are now offering this season.” Those include Introduction to Theatre (concentrating on stage direction); Broadway Here I Come (with an emphasis on music, dance, and acting); and a Teen Improv class.
In the talking stage is creating a Teen Advisory Committee, to help the district develop more programs for that age group. Things like becoming a Certified Babysitter, and being certified in CPR. “We know we can learn a lot from listening to teens in the community, and we’re really looking forward to making that happen.”
The Park District serves all ages, and to learn more about another important demographic in our community—those folks without young children. This summer Julie produced a series called In The Parks — nine free events in nine different parks. Once again, it gave her a great opportunity to talk to active adults and find out what they were looking for from us. “At a recent concert in Memorial Park, where the people were mostly ages 65 and up, we asked questions like ‘where do you find out about park district events and programs’, ‘how do you put it on your calendar,’ and ‘how far in advance do you do that.’” Think of it as trading a free concert for real-time feedback. It’s invaluable, and we are so grateful for the information we get.
Coming up, look for more workshops and more free concerts, including the brand new Dance Team and the Hip Hop Crew doing performances at community events, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. Giving back. It’s another thing we love to do.
We would also love to hear from you. Tell us your ideas, and let’s work together to make something wonderful happen. You can find us on the website, along with hundreds of programs and events we know you’ll enjoy. Until next time… See you around the parks!
We may have our roots in different countries/cultures, practice different religions, have different skin tones, but one thing we all have in common is our respect for our ancestors, those who have come before us.
The Park District of Highland Park is partnering with the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation, The Art Center of Highland Park and Working Together to create a community mural. If you would like to participate, please submit a 10 inch x 12 inch drawing depicting ways in which you honor your ancestors.
Select artists will be chosen to paint their pieces with Chicago Muralist, Oscar Romero, at Heller Nature Center during the last week of October. We will have the mural displayed at our Dia De Los Muertos event on Saturday, November 4.
The deadline to submit is September 25, 2023. Submit your art and questions to Jessica Reyes at [email protected] or mail:
Heller Nature Center
2821 Ridge Road
Highland Park, IL 60035
While the big kids are busy at school, we’ve got plenty of opportunities to keep your little ones active and learning this Fall! From creative outlets to outdoor adventures, here’s a list of ideas to fill those precious hours with your tots at the Park District of Highland Park.
Read and walk our featured book along the trails at Heller Nature Center.
Be sure to check out our two newly renovated tot playgrounds at Moroney Park and Sunset Woods Park.
Visit Heller Nature Center and enjoy this unique nature play area.
Enjoy our challenging 18-hole mini golf course. Fun for the whole family.
Did you know we have over 20 miles of walking trails at the Park District? Find a path near you.
Enjoy a picnic at one of our parks! We have over 40 parks to choose from.
Heller Honey is on sale! Grab a jar or 2 at the Recreation Center of Highland Park, Heller Nature Center or Madame Zuzu’s and whip up one of these kid-friendly recipes:
On Monday, August 21, the Park District of Highland Park hosted a community meeting to share more information about the proposal brought to the Park District by HillCo apartments for consideration to construct a shared parking lot on the Northeast corner of Sunset Woods Park. Feedback collected will be shared with the Park Board of Commissioners. The Park Board will be evaluating an agreement with HillCo on September 13 and 27, and the proposed parking lot will be evaluated by the City of Highland Park Plan and Design Commission on September 5.
Please find takeaways from the meeting below.
The activation of this corner of the park, as proposed by the Sunset Woods Master Plan, has not been approved and the concept has not been further developed. The addition of a garden and new paths is currently an unfunded project. The donation from Hillco would provide the Parks Foundation of Highland Park with $100,000 to go towards development of concept for a park garden and gathering area.
No, the proposed parking lot does not include lighting.
If the project is permitted at the September Planning and Design Commission meeting, the proposed easement agreement would be reviewed and considered for approval by the Park Board on September 13 and September 23, 2023. Park Board Meetings are public and the agendas are posted on the Park District’s website.
The apartment complex is currently using the School District 112 lot for parking and that lot is no longer available for use due to the temporary location of Ravinia School.
Nothing.
Yes, Hillco has an approved plan for a parking lot that would be in front of their building along Park Ave W and would contain 12 parking spaces. See the approved plan here (page 11). Hillco has indicated they will build only one parking lot.
8 spaces.
The parking lot will not impact the McCaffrey Trail.
Yes, the existing path on the Western and Southern edges of the open lawn space will remain.
The proposed parking lot would be about 7,000 square feet, and approximately 4,000 square feet would be located on Park District property.
If the Park District moves forward with activating the Northeast corner of the park, thus creating a destination, ADA Parking spaces would be required for access. The route from the existing ADA parking on Sunset Road to the Northeast corner and proposed park development concept is not ADA compliant.
17 spaces in total, with 2 ADA spaces constructed on the Park District side.
