Glenview preschool debuts new bike track

For years, officials at Glenview Methodist Preschool wished they could get their young students outdoors, riding tricycles on a nice, safe track.

It was "like a dream," said preschool director Karen Coan, that came true using money from the state Child Care Restoration Grants awarded by the village following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nondenominational, nonprofit school's bike track now is up and running. Its 126 students, ranging in age from 2 to 5 years, are wheeling around it on shared, matching tricycles donated by the school's 110 families.

"Oh, they love it, they want to be out there all the time," Coan said.

Coan credited a "great collaboration" with the church as well as the leadership of Laurie Moll, former president of the preschool parent board, as the "main driver of the project."

A brief ribbon-cutting ceremony for the bike track is set from 5:30-6 p.m. Oct. 12 at the school, 727 Harlem Ave., before the school's annual Family Night. Current and former families and teachers are invited.

Melissa Niver, a volunteer board member who does media relations for the preschool, says the track is "one of a kind."

She's got a 3-year-old boy who trikes around on it every day. Niver also has a 5-year-old daughter in her first year at Glenview's Henking Elementary School who is jealous.

"We're the only (school) in the area that has one outdoors," Melissa Niver said of the track. "Most schools have an indoor gym where they use tricycles, but this is a much different thing we haven't seen anywhere else."

Utilizing a previously unused, grassy area on Glenview Methodist property, the track is what Niver called a "windy loop" about 5 feet wide and configured nearly like a figure-8.

Coan estimated the main path occupied a space about 50 feet wide and 70 feet in length.

"And we're hoping to put a bridge in that middle section so they can go from one side to the other," she said.

The layout includes slight inclines students can ride up and down and a playhouse the trikes can pass under, built by volunteering fathers. A sidewalk addition to the north leads to the "pinched oval" track.

It's plain enough for children to use their imagination, Coan said.

Landscaping plans included the placement of dwarf Korean lilac, Linesville arborvitae, redbud trees and several perennial species and ornamental grasses.

An extension of the existing playground to the east, a new steel gate separates it from Harlem Avenue.

As Coan started researching this project she found many examples of similar bike tracks in Australia and Japan.

"And then COVID happened and we actually got a lot of grant money from the state. That's kind of how we made it happen," Coan said.

"You never know if it's going to turn out how you envision it, and it looks really good."