Clarkson Park is my favorite park in Northfield, and a big part of the charm of the entire village. In the center is the Cavallari Pavilion which is used to host various special village events and is available to rent for private parties. Restrooms and drinking fountains are attached to the pavilion, and there are a few covered tables. A small gazebo offers additional shade and cover from the elements. There's numerous benches around the pavilion, a designated open picnic area beside the pavilion with several tables, and other picnic tables are spread around the park. The Northfield Park District often use Clarkson Park for village events, and will add and remove tables and furniture as needed.
In the spring and summer time; they've hosted several different food festivals, they hold their annual Easter egg hunt, and they've had several small concerts. The large field to the north of the pavilion is suitable for pickup games of football or soccer, and many locals run their leashed dogs around it. In the winter, weather permitting, the village will set up an outdoors ice skating rink for everyone to enjoy.
The large playground features a good assortment of modern safe play equipment for all ages, receives a fair amount of shade from numerous tall trees around it, and has plenty of seating for guardians to watch their kids play. Parts of the playground feature sand or soft wood chips, but the village seems to be introducing more soft rubber protection in the play areas for added safety. While all of the surrounding seats offer excellent line-of-sight through the entire playground, it's advisable to watch your kids closely as there are roads on three sides of the park. Willow is far away from the play area, but Bristol and Churchill streets do run close enough that a fast kid could accidentally run into either if left unsupervised for a few seconds. Northfield PD frequently patrol the area, so the park itself should be pretty safe.
Despite being lower than Willow Rd., the entire parks drains nicely. Grounds crews seem to take good care of the grass, so there's rarely ever any muddy spots after a rain. As a result of the excellent drainage and meticulous care of the trees / shrubbery, Clarkson Park has much fewer pesky bugs in the summer time than other nearby parks.
Northfield's Park District seems to be doing additional renovations to the park. It sounds like a new band shell, additional playground changes, a communal fire pit, and more are on the docket. I'm looking forward to the changes, as Clarkson Park just keeps getting nicer and brilliantly represents the charm of Northfield. read more