Elburn awarded state grant for upgrades in Prairie Park
Elburn recently learned the village will receive an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to assist with plans to improve Prairie Park, one of the village’s oldest parks.
“My kids played there, and (now) one is in high school and the other in college,” said Rob Reilley, chairperson of the Elburn Parks Commission.
Prairie Park is near the Town and Country Library at North and 3rd Streets.
The $446,100 grant, which provides a 50/50 match for the projects the IDNR approves, will be used to purchase updated playground equipment, including more that are appropriate for younger children and accessible for every child; a band shell; workout stations featuring various pieces of fitness equipment; and a looped walking trail, which will be built where the old one used to be.
“The old one (walking trail) became overgrown,” Village Administrator John Nevenhoven said. “This one will be more durable; it’ll be made out of asphalt or concrete.”
The updated playground equipment will replace the current equipment, which will be donated to Kids Around the World, an organization that will repurpose the equipment, and organize global and U.S. outreach trips for volunteers to install it.
Upland Design, a local consulting group with a successful track record for park planning and grant writing, assisted the village in creating the plan and writing the grant that won the approval of the IDNR.
Once an agreement is finalized between the village and the IDNR, the design work can begin, explained Nevenhoven during the Feb. 20 Committee of the Whole meeting. He said the plan is to have the improvements completed by July 15, 2025, in time for the annual Run with the Rails race and Elburn Days.
Reilley said he envisions the improvements will open up more opportunities for people to gather in this park, such as movie nights, concerts with local bands and other events. He said the park’s location is fairly central within the village.