I'm in a few park and playground social media groups, and the park at the Des Plaines Park District…read moreAdministrative Center has come up a time or two as being particularly good. I decided we should finally go check it out. If you're coming here for the playground, don't make the boneheaded mistake I did: Stopping at the Iroquois Community School, which is right off Touhy and when I saw the school's playground I thought we were at our destination. You will be sorely disappointed if you stop at the wrong one. If you make your way here via Birch Street, you'll go all the way to the end of the street, turn left, and find the park on the other side of the building; if you take Maple Street to get here, drive down toward the barricade dividing the street and you won't be able to miss it on your right. With all that out of the way, this is a fantastic park. When we left the school playyard, something just seemed off and I am so glad that I went around the block to find the actual playground we'd intended to visit, at the DPPD. It's all the way back at the end of the road; you'll essentially dead-end into when you head down Birch. This is my current favorite playground. The equipment is fantastic and so much of it is geared toward the littlest kiddos, which is not always the case. Here there are small things for them to climb on and under, there's a little "farmers market" booth with different play elements, crawl spaces, slides, and so on. My little girl had fun just running around the place, and she also did some crawling and climbing and sliding and enjoyed trying to feed the big turtle sculpture, as well as naming the turtle's body parts that she recognized. Toward the tail end of our visit, she spotted the swings, which is her favorite so we spent a while there before heading out. All told, we spent about 45 minutes here. The first time, that is--we've since been back again in the last week or so since our first visit and were there for an hour or more. There are several picnic tables in this playground area as well, so many of the parents were hanging out there whilst the kids ran around. This playground is geared toward younger kids (10 and below). The terrain is turf, grass, and paved walkways throughout, and it's fully fenced which is one of my favorite features of a park right now (though some parents are better than others about making sure the gates are actually closed). There's a private parking lot, very convenient. I hope we see you there!

On Sept 15, we went to the Fall Festival to see Live bands play on stage but what we saw was…read moredrunken brawls break out during the concert. Prior to the bands playing and during the breaks, announcements were constantly made for Alcohol Sales. Alcohol impairs judgement and I highly suggest that at future park district events that No Alcohol Sales occur, especially events that are promoted as "family friendly".

Parks like Busch Grove make me proud to be from Buffalo Grove…read more First, the park serves largely as a nature preserve. Trees, grasses, streams, and a pond are home to ducks, beavers, muskrats, and a colorful assortment of wildflowers. An asphalt trail circles through the preserve and on any sunny day you see families biking and rollerblading. To the side of the trail are signs highlighting various plants and animals you may see on your walk. On the east end, near Buffalo Grove Road, there is a skate park and roller/ice hockey rink. The hockey rink is busy year round and the skate park is very popular as soon as it warms up. Finally, the park is easily accessible from Willow Stream Park via the overpass over McHenry Road. Kids can safely get from the pool at Willow Stream to the skate park in Busch Grove.

Spacious, I wasn't help up in just one part the park. The stairs, ramps, rails, and built in half…read morepipes kept me pretty busy

I don't skate, and frankly, this isn't technically a place of business. But if I had to guess about…read morea place I'd be able to find a vendor of marijuana, I'd put this at the top of my list for Roselle. You know, not that I partake, but there's a certain skater image based on truth. Of course, the local cops are aware of this image, they patrol frequently, and the station is only one village block away. Oh yeah, here's a PSA. "Hey kids! You like bikes, skate boards, roller blades, and anything else that puts wheels under your feet right? Well, what better way to guarantee physical injury with that kind of equipment than a skate park?! Come on down, and remember not to wear your pads, because pads make you look like a scaredy-cat pussy!"

I pass by this park constantly, but I didn't realize until a couple days ago that there is a…read moreplayground here. It's actually quite close to St. Andrews, so it's easy to miss or think it's part of the church. Hinkley Park is one of the largest parks in Park Ridge and it serves a whole bunch of different purposes. In addition to the playground, there's a pool, various ball fields, picnic area, community garden, and more. They've recently made accessibility improvements throughout the park as well. We had fun here. The playground has a sawdust terrain. There's some equipment for children of all ages, so it was nice to see a small structure for the littles to be safe on. (But of course they wanted to go on the big one anyway.) Though there's no fencing around the park, it's far enough from the roadway that I felt comfortable with my kiddo here. Be aware that there is a little ditch along the northern edge that becomes a little creek when there's much rain, so you will want to keep a keen eye on the kiddos.

Great skate park with metal ramps and concrete foundation. Half pipe and many quarter pipes and…read morelots of kids. Nice kids too, respectful of children and adults. Mostly scooters are ridden and some bikes with the older kids. Some of the scooters kids are as young as 4. Occasionally someone will have a skateboard, but this is mostly a scooter park this weekend.

I am updating my review because it has become inaccurate. I said in my original review that older…read morekids don't come here to smoke after school. That is no longer true. What's more, there are high school kids smoking pot in the port-o-potties and apparently selling it behind the elementary school next to the park. I also saw a couple of them get into a fight on the basketball court. I really don't feel good about taking my daughter or any other kids here after 3:45 or so anymore. Some gang members also tried to carjack an SUV around the corner from here recently, but the blotter doesn't say what time this happened, so I don't know if it was at one in the afternoon (when kids are around) or 1 at night (when nobody should be around). How disappointing. This is a really fun park.

This is a nice skate park for little dudes & dudettes to (learn how to) shred the gnar…read more It's a beginners park so you wont see Tony Hawk here or anything, but it's free to use and there's never any unwanted punk kid activity happening here as far as I've seen. Even when rowdy tweens come to use the mini ramps (nothing too big here) they usually cool it with the swearing and grinding when kids come around. For the most part, I don't think this venue gets a ton of action so if you go, there's a good chance you'll have the place to yourself. I think it goes unused a lot because it's not visible from the street or nearest parking lot so you kind of have to already know in order to go. For parking, the place to go is in the Community Park & Aquatic Center parking lot behind the Walgreens at Northwest Highway and Palatine Rd. If you park there you should get out and walk towards the park just outside the aquatic center and then make a left by the small parks building. There's also a little walking path from the park that goes behind the parks building and to the Fred P Hall outdoor amphitheater. The skate park is located directly behind there. It should be noted that the park is unsupervised so BYO safety supplies and don't do anything dumb because, like I said, it's not really visible from the street or parking areas so if you fall and break something and can't get up, it could be a few days before anyone finds your body and by that time the wolves will probably have already eaten at least part of you. Just kidding. Most likely it'd be a coyote kill.

Awesome place to go skateboarding in either summer or winter. Always able to have funread more

My recent visit to Audubon Skate Park was marred by an unsettling encounter with an individual…read morenamed Jake. While I strive to provide objective feedback, I cannot overlook the discomfort and unease his presence brought to the park. From the moment I arrived, Jake's behavior raised serious concerns about the safety and overall atmosphere of the skate park. His interactions with the young boys at the park were inappropriate and crossed boundaries of respect and decency. He seemed to prey on one young unsuspecting Asian scooter boy by questioning to integrity of his 'rizz'. After several attempts of plundering said rizz the boy gave in and hit the gritty. Jake then exclaimed, and I quote, "damn that jun bouncing". He made unwelcome comments that made many uncomfortable, tarnishing what should have been a positive and inclusive environment for everyone. He was overly innapropriate and seemed to be trying to seduce every boy he met. He kept telling them to 'hit the gritty' and he kept saying he wanted to 'plunder their rizz'. I found his behavior to be creepy and inappropriate. I stayed away from him as much as possible and I would definitely not recommend him to anyone. It is disheartening to witness someone like Jake using a community space to engage in inappropriate behavior and make others feel uneasy. Skating should be an activity that brings people together, fostering a sense of camaraderie and support. Unfortunately, Jake's presence detracted from that sense of unity, creating an uncomfortable environment for both the boys he targeted and other visitors. After countless 'no's' after being asked to 'hit the gritty' his seductive aura gave way to my rizz and I hit the fattest fucking gritty after which Jake said, "I know that shit grip, like its grippy and shit..."

Great park! It was our first time there and the kids had a blast. There's so much to do, lots of…read moreclimbing, musical instruments to play with, and overall a really great playground!! There's even a skate park right up ahead for older kids. We spent a long time there and the kids never got bored. Definitely a fun spot and one we'll be coming back to!

Prior to the Covid shut down, Jewett Park was in the midst of a significant overhaul. All projects…read morecame to a halt, but they've since finished the new skate park. It's new and smooth! For a little background information, this skate park is one of few poured concrete skate facilities in the state that are open to the public. The Vernon Hills skatepark is another one I've been to. This park is 11,000SF with one bowl, a vert quarter pipe, ledges, and rails. There's a hangout area that *had* benches, but the benches were most likely taken away to help avoid gathering and encourage social distancing. There are currently no benches or designated places to sit. There is no shade, so wear your sunscreen! In case you didn't already know from my other skate park reviews, I'm a mom of two boys who take their scooter riding very seriously. I've been to my fair share of skate parks, and Jewett has now been added to our rotation. However, the boys don't go here as much as I had hoped, because it gets pretty crowded.