September/October 2019
Community Newsletter Park District celebrates the Grand Re-Opening of the Grandwood Park Lake Dam ... a 5-year project that is finally complete!
Our journey to solve a problem as big as our failing dam and flooding issues, and to ensure the safety of our residents and their property began in the summer of 2014. Although it proved to be very painful at times, we patiently worked our way through all the proper channels (which took years as we all know) and the project is finally finished! And ...... the Park District is proud to declare we were able to do this .......... WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL TAX DOLLARS FROM
OUR RESIDENTS!The project total was nearly $413,000.
Lake County Stormwater Management Commission was instrumental in the entire project. LCSMC worked with us from the very beginning in 2014, all the way through the construction where they provided day-to-day supervision . During the process these past 5 years, they also assisted us in securing the financial funding we needed for the project - first with a matching grant in the amount of $10,000, and secondly by requesting another matching grant via an Inter-Governmental Agreement for $182,700 which was approved by the Lake County Board.
The Park District's financial portion of the project was just under $230,000. Join us at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and help us celebrate the completion of this project and acknowledge everyone who helped along the way!
New Equipment at Adam's Park
Adam’s Park Re-Opening Celebration!!The Celebration was held on Thursday, August 29th at 10:30 am. It was a perfect day to welcome children to Adam’s Park to celebrate the new playground equipment! Updated were the Main Play Structure, Swings (including the addition of a multi-generational swing), and the Merry-go-Round. As the children reluctantly headed out of the park to head home, they were given either Bubbles or Spray Sidewalk Chalk as a little gift from the Park District.
Savannah loves the new slide.
You'll find Kaisan on the tractor.
Drake has no fear of heights…look up and you’ll find him on top!
The Merry-go-Round was never empty!
Vincent heads to the Swings first…that’s one way to fly!
Even a storm drain cover can look attractive with the help of Natalie and Quinn!
HELP PREVENT VANDALISM IN OUR PARKS!!!
The safety fence put up to close the park for improvements wasn't down two full days before the vandals hit Adam's Park. Broken beer bottles were found in the playground mulch, the toilet paper from the portable toilet was thrown around the park, and the hand sanitizer was ripped out. A couple days later, someone burned a section of one of the benches, and ripped out the hand sanitizer again!
In Lake Park, we are hearing about kids picking up the rocks at the dam and throwing them in the water. Two signs were stolen - posts and all (pretty sure they are in the lake). A tire was found in the spillway. The Park District has filed a report with the Lake County Sheriff's Department for ALL of the recent vandalism, and they have informed us that they will increase their visibility around the parks. YOU CAN HELP STOP THESE VANDALS -AND- PROTECT YOUR TAX DOLLARS. YOUR TAX DOLLARS ARE USED TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE DONE TO OUR
PROPERTY!!Take a walk through the parks, walk past Adam's Park, and report anything you see. These calls help get more patrols in our community! If you see or become aware of a situation which you deem suspicious or out of the ordinary, you are encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff at (847) 549-5200 and report it. If you prefer, call our County Board Representative, Steve Carlson, at (847) 356-4167 or (cell) 224-627-0767 and he will be happy to place the call for you, and you will remain anonymous. At the very least, contact the Park District at 847-356-0008 and let us know if you have seen any suspicious activity in any of our parks, have witnessed or noticed any vandalism. The Park District WILL prosecute anyone vandalizing park district property. A reward is offered for information that leads to the successful identification of individuals responsible for vandalism. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.
COOKING 101 continues with 2 sessions of "COOKING AROUND THE WORLD"
Two Open Seats on the
Park District Board of Commissioners
The Park District is looking for residents of Grandwood Park Park District, who are interested in volunteering for the position of Commissioner. We currently have two seats to be filled. Commissioners are elected for a four-year term; or appointed to fill a term until the next municipal election. In this case, the seat would be up for election in April 2021, which makes it a 2-year term. Grandwood Park Park District, or GPPD, is a local government body. Commissioners on the GPPD board work together to meet the vision and goals of the park district. As stated on the Grandwood Park website, our goal is: “To meet the needs and expectations of the community regarding the
Grandwood Park Park District, and to provide the best park/community environment possible within our means and abilities.” The board meets once a month on the second Wednesday of each month. Meetings are open the public under the Open Meetings Act. Upcoming dates include: September 11th and October 9th. Attendance at these meetings is mandatory for commissioners. We are a small park district, with limited financial means. Budget decisions are generally limited to maintenance of our facilities, support of the Civic Association, and long range or strategic planning. The time commitment is variable, but in general does not exceed 10 hours per month. Most of that time is spent in correspondence and updates with the staff and other commissioners. If you are interested, please contact Leslie Cassidy, the Park District Manager, to learn more, or attend the meeting on September 11th at 6:30 pm to throw your hat into the ring! The meetings are held in the conference room of the Park District Community Center located at 36630 N. Hutchins Rd., Gurnee.
Little Learners Preschool is just around the corner. This will be a year for our young learners to explore and discover new skills while having fun. We can’t wait to get started! We will work on following directions, reading readiness skills, math, science, independence, and working with others. We will do this as we play, listen to stories, dance, create, explore our environment, and much more. At Little Learners Preschool, we never stop exploring! *****
Our traditional "Meet and Greet" for all the preschool children was held at Adam’s Park on Thursday, August 29th from 9:30-10:30. What a great way to get to meet our new friends before the first day of school after Labor Day.
Little Learners Preschool will hold Fundraiser at Oktoberfest!
We are excited once again to partner with Nothing Bundt Cakes at the Grandwood Park Civic Association's Oktoberfest on Saturday, September 28th to raise money for the preschool. Make sure to stop by our booth and meet the preschool teachers, as well as buy a delicious bundt cake or two. All of the money raised at Oktoberfest will be used to enhance our preschool program by providing updated and newer classroom toys, hands-on learning manipulatives, and equipment for our physical education time. Thank you for supporting the preschool program.
TRICK -OR- TREATTrick-or-Treating will be Thursday, October 31st from 5:00-8:00pm.Keep your porch on to let the little ghosts and goblins know you are participating!
LUNCH WITH SANTASunday - December 8thWatch for all the details in the
November/December Community Newsletter
Sounds of SummerThank you to that all came out and enjoyed our exciting concert series this summer, Our first performance was a fantastic duo, Boy Meets Girl. They played a variety of current music. We were also surprised by a performance from Olivia Dvorak. Olivia played at our Sounds of Summer last year. It was great evening for all that attended.
Our second concert was performed by the L&M Experience. They are a local group that entertained the crowd with classic rock. A special thank you to the Grandwood Park Park District for sponsoring this year's Sound of Summer. Without their support, we would not be able to bring such amazing music acts to our community. ====================
Get Well wishes went out to Tyler Gano, Cherie Pressley, and Nancy Carlson of Grandwood Park. All are recovering from various surgeries and your neighbors and friends wish you all a speedy recovery.
Condolences to the family and friends of Elaine A. (Klindera) Spokas of Gurnee. Mrs. Spokas is the mother of Joan (Gary) Knockel of Grandwood Park. Joan and Gary have lived in Grandwood Park for many years and are active members of our community.
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