Naperville celebrates its renovated Riverwalk
Naperville paid tribute to its visionaries of the past Wednesday as it celebrated the completion of renovations to the Riverwalk that will sturdy it for the future.
"I so admire the courage of the original Riverwalk Commission, city leaders, the volunteers who took what I thought was a spectacular leap of faith," Riverwalk Commission Chairman Rick Hitchcock said during the rededication ceremony, citing Jim Moser and former Mayor Chet Rybicki among others.
Dozens of residents, city councilmen, park district and Riverwalk commissioners and former city leaders turned out for Wednesday's celebration.
Created in 1981, the Riverwalk now stretches 1.75 miles and many consider it to be the city's crown jewel. However, after more than a quarter-century, the park needed some work, leading to a recent rehabilitation of its original stretch between Eagle and Main streets.
The $1.56 million project included reconstructing a bulkhead wall from the 1930s, enhancing Veteran's Plaza, widening the lower walkway, combining two walkways into a Grand Promenade and replacing the sidewalk along Jackson Avenue with brick pavers.
The project, which began in February, had to overcome a few hurdles along the way, including weather, deeper bedrock than expected, a small amount of gasoline in the soil and incorrect materials sent to the site. But now the work is complete and Mayor George Pradel said the improvements were worth the wait.
"Now more families will have the space and accessibility they need to spend time together while taking a stroll along the DuPage River," he said.
One of the most noticeable changes is the new Veteran's Plaza, where three large granite monuments pay tribute to those who have served in the armed forces. The plaza received a $75,000 donation from the Naperville Exchange Club in collaboration with the American Legion Post 43, Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873 and a donation from Naperville dentist Kevin Ryan.
"It is the honor of the Exchange Club to assist in dedicating an area where those individuals who come home, those individuals who have given the ultimate sacrifice and are at eternal rest and their families who also served, can come for a time of peaceful reflection to honor, to remember, to pay them their gratitude for the freedom that we enjoy every day in our daily lives," said Georgann Karantonis, chairman of the Exchange Club's Americanism Committee.
The Riverwalk also received a $25,000 donation from Exelon Nuclear for a new garden.
"The gardens we're sponsoring not only are beautiful to look at but as they mature and the over 50 trees planted in the area grow ... they will have offset over 135,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, which we know is what the environment is facing today," said Bryan Hanson, site vice president for the Braidwood station and a Naperville resident.
Additional renovations are in the planning stages for other parts of the Riverwalk but no start date has been set. The Riverwalk Commission is working on obtaining the necessary permits and funding.