Little Bear water features now functioning after storm damage

As of July 20, all water features at Gallery Park's Little Bear Garden playground were operational after damage from a June storm.

Tim Beckmann, the Glenview Park District's superintendent of Park and Facility Services, said parts arrived sooner than expected on Wednesday.

By 11 a.m. July 20, all 21 zones where water is featured in the children's playground were back online.

"It helps the community, especially for the younger children, with the weather temperatures," Beckmann said.

"It's a beautiful park where you can interact with the water features or just the natural elements, the trees, and it's a nice area for picnics. It adds an extra entity for the younger children," he said.

Severe weather that rolled through the North Shore on June 13 broke equipment and flooded a vault that stored the data card "brains" that programmed some of the water features, Beckmann said.

Water needed to be pumped from the vault and dehumidifiers put in, he said. After repairs were assessed and parts cleared by insurance, it was a matter of ordering the new parts and waiting for their arrival.

Seven of the water features in the park at Patriot Boulevard and Chestnut Avenue had been operational for the prior two weeks, Beckmann said Wednesday.

"The issue we've been experiencing is a long lead time for some of these parts," he said.

"It was supposed to be several more weeks, but they came in the mail today."