Community Arts Center named after longtime Buffalo Grove park member

The Buffalo Grove Park District is honoring more than a quarter-century of service by naming its Community Arts Center after Commissioner Scott Jacobson.

Park board members recently voted to name the center located at 225 McHenry Road after Jacobson, who began serving on the park board in 2001.

The location was fitting, considering Jacobson’s family’s involvement in the arts. His son Phil gained acclaim as a songwriter and vocalist with The Shades and his involvement with the Guitars Over Guns program.

It was also apt considering Jacobson’s role in the park district purchasing the former Congregation Beth Am site for $3.7 million in 2013.

There is another personal connection to the center — Jacobson’s younger sister, Cynthia Mowery, passed away in late April. A memorial service for her was held at the Community Arts Center.

For that reason, he said the naming is a great honor, but, “It just has a little bit of sadness attached to it.”

Jacobson is the latest currently serving board member to be honored for longtime service.

Green Lake Park in Buffalo Grove was officially dedicated and renamed in 2023 after longtime Buffalo Grove Park Board Commissioner Larry Reiner, whose tenure began in 1987.

“Scott has been in every aspect of the growth during the growth years of the park district and has played a huge role in developing our parks, our services, our theater and cultural arts,” Reiner said.

Jacobson said he is proud of his accomplishments with the park district, which include pushing the district to become the first park district in Illinois to ban outdoor smoking — a move that predated the village’s own indoor smoking ban.

“It wasn’t easy to get it passed, because several of my fellow commissioners didn’t think it was our business to be telling people if they could smoke or not,” he said.

An official celebration has not yet been scheduled, but the district’s website already reflects the new name.