My family and I visit this park on an almost daily basis. It's very clean and offers an appealing…read morelandscape. The playgrounds are in great condition and safe. My daughter likes to interact with other children whenever the opportunity presents itself, and lastly the location is smack in the middle of a quiet neighborhood presenting opportunities to meet friendly neighbors.

A clean and well-maintained park, though the security cameras don't instill confidence. Portapotty…read moreis clean. Plenty of shade available.

Charming little park…read more My friend and I met up here to catch up and soak up some sun.

Such a shame that $400,000 Illinois taxpayer dollars were used to cut down the beautiful old growth…read morehardwood trees and turn them into mulch. The money was supposed to be spent to "improve urban green spaces", but the money was used to destroy beautiful trees worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and turn them into mulch.

Great park with shaded splash pad and multiple jungle gyms. Lots of shaded areas for when the sun…read morereally beats down on Chicagoland. The kids play area / jungle gym is quality and is well used by area children. Recommended!

I visit Elmwood Park weekly to eat at the restaurants along North Ave. The village has a great…read morecrime prevention program in that area, with cameras monitoring the parking area as well as stationary and roving police units. Public Safety is critical and other villages should follow suit in the tactics that Elmwood Park employs to keep people safe from crime. The only downside to this Restaurant Row area is that there are very few handicapped parking spots.

I live on a side street that one side is Chicago and the other side is ELMWOOD Park their is a…read moreProblem with Trucks Parking OVERNIGHT on the Side Streets so one Night a Large Truck Parked Right in Front of a Fire Hydrant and was Blocking the crosswalk so I Called the ELMWOOD Park Dispatch department that this is very dangerous and if there was a Fire the truck would cause a problem and also Blocking people from crossing the Street and All that they told me that was not Elmwood Parks district even though the sign says ELmwood park The next day I talked to the commander of the ELMWOOD Park Police and all he said is that they use People that are in Franklin Park that takes Their calls so didn't know that is ELMWOOD Park

My son likes to call this park "Piratey Park". It's no…read morewonder. They have a pirate ship in the middle of the playground. They also have a sand lot, tons of fun play structures, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and a walking/ running path. I'm a creature of habit and I also loathe too much sun and humidity. I prefer this park because there are many areas of shade and places to picnic. The walking path is also a great and safe place for my son to ride his bike. P.S. One of the few parks whose public washrooms do not send me into gagging fits.

gorgeous park to take the kids too. my sis lives very close…read more always fun to go to, the kids love it. right next to the train station, they love that for sure.

My discovery of Sunset Bridge Meadow came after I took an alternate run route because the underpass…read moreheaded north towards Schiller Woods South was blocked off due to flooding. And since then, I have been slowly moving further south with hopes of locating paths that lead to Thatcher Woods which I hope to eventually start off at in the future to train for marathon runs as I have done before, but at Fullerton Woods trailhead. What I like about this trailhead is that its parking lot is spacious, and highly visible being that it sits along a highly driven on W North Ave. And on top of it having a spacious parking lot, it has a huge open field that is perfect for activities outside of outdoor picnics at the grove. Out of the trailheads in this area which are Fullerton Woods and Jerome Huppert Woods, I recommend this one for safety and security purposes due to its location if you plan to be on the Des Plaines River Trail for more than an hour exploring. Because with its location being in a highly visible area along W North Ave anything suspicious will be easily identified. And also there are a decent number of visitors in-and-out. Once you enter the Des Plaines River Trail, it is a whole different world where you can easily escape reality and be one with nature that covers an estimated total of 28.4 miles. And if you are lucky you will encounter some of the wildlife that live within the preserve too. On the Des Plaines River Trail, you will encounter hikers, dog walkers, mountain bikers and trail runners which all are friendly from what I have experienced. Most encounters with mountain bikers can throw your pacing off depending on how many there are in a pack which most of the time are no more than four. I do recommend taking the encounters as the time for a short break to hydrate or gather yourself until they pass by on whatever portion of the trail you may be on if there is not enough room. And lastly, a tip on how to not get off track on this trail is to stay along the Des Plaines River, which will end up on your left hand side once you cross the bridge. If you cannot see the river then you may have went in the wrong direction, but I assure you it is not hard to miss. And the further north you go towards the state line of Wisconsin the more the trail disconnects. ~Blessings~ Thomas G

I love this little park. More importantly my son loves coming here. It's very popular but you'll…read morealways find something to play on (I speak of the children lol). There's swings and many size slides and climbing walls. In the summer the there are water fountains to playing in. Lots of parking and ice cream vendors visits. Schools host activities in the spring as well. Sports take place around the park as well. If you're looking for a park to walk to check this one out.

Hiawatha was my old neighborhood park, as it seemed to be everyone's in the O and P-streets on the…read morefar-NW side of Chicago. I think the city planners nailed its location perfectly at Addison and Forest Preserve Drive, placing it exactly between Irving, Belmont, Oriole and Cumberland. Everyone in that neighborhood is just a few blocks walk from this park. And the two nearest elementary schools (St. Francis Borgia and Canty) are no more than 1-2 blocks away. There's always joggers or walkers at any time of day or night in this park. The perimeter of the entire park is 2/3-mile. I remember the night before my first son was born, to accelerate the contractions, my wife and I walked 2 laps around Hiawatha at 2 AM on a sultry July night before going to the hospital for the labor and delivery. We found out we weren't the only sleepless ones walking at that hour. We also saw another couple feverishly working on a baby of their own in a parked car, though they were about 9 months behind us in their planning. Parking is a problem at Hiawatha. The tiny lot behind the field house might as well not be there at all. Most people park along Forest Preserve or Cornelia. With all the baseball games happening, you could have several hundred people at the park on any given day. Best to walk or bike it if you're from the area. You need the exercise anyway. Their playground is an aging wooden and steel set of play structures, but challenging and fun nonetheless. It is located at the pointy end of the park at Panama, right at the beginning of my so-called Panama Expressway. Lots of Polish kids and their families come to play on the slides, swings, and bridges. There's also a sprinkler play area that's fun in the summer. And a good night to come or avoid, depending on your fancy, is 4th of July. For some odd reason, around 9 PM, hundreds of people descend on the park with lawn chairs and coolers in tow and no police seems to be in the area at all. Amateur pyrotechnicians put on an immersive experience of smoky, loud and spark-filled fireworks more intense than any IMAX movie you've seen. Look out for flaming debris falling from trees too. Everyone has a good time and goes home by about 11 PM. Years ago on warm summer nights, there used to be a group of older Italian guys who played bocce on the white gravel courts behind the fieldhouse. The bocce courts still remain, though many of the men may have moved on to the bocce courts up in the blue sky. No longer tended, the courts are now filling up with weeds - and the occasional reckless teens smoking weeds of their own behind the building. In all its useful ways, Hiawatha captures the spirit of this NW-side neighborhood.

Skokie Lagoons is huge! Biking, hiking, fishing, kayaking, canoeing- it has it all. I had no idea…read morethis place existed, but I'm so glad to have been introduced to it. Was here recently to rent kayaks and it was great. Chicago Kayak and Canoe rental company sets up camp, and it was very busy with school groups and families on a recent beautiful September 2016 Chicago weekend. Kayaking the Lagoons you're bound to see cranes, heron, a few other people kayaking, and get lost in nature. From time to time there is algae on the water and it can be smelly. We went right into a cove of algae where nobody else was going, and it felt like something out of the movie Adaptation. I was jealous of all the fishing going on, and hope to be back for that. It's only 5 miles from Chicago Botanic Gardens, so if you park here you can bike on in for free, and have an easy short ride. A lot of people reviewing Skokie Lagoons complain about the trash, and how people leave lunch garbage and bottles laying around. To me that's not a reflection of the place itself- do your part- pick up some trash before you leave, or pull a bottle or two out of the water. Or just stay away, because I'll be back, and the less people the better!

Great place for hiking. Not too crowded and not far from home for me. Lol. Will definitely visit…read moreagain.

This is a great local park that is always worth the visit when the weather is warm. It is split up…read moreinto 2 sections with an area for younger kids and one with a more advanced set of toys for older kids. It is a wood chip ground with soft rubber landing spots at the bottom of each slide. There are several lengths and types of slides a each park and there are a full set of swings with ones for little kids up to bigger ones. There is a small gazebo in between them and a larger grassy park nearby to play in as well. There is also a tennis and bocce ball court right next to the parks as well with bathrooms and a water fountain. Again an all around great local community park.

I love that this playground has the old school obstacles. It's really nice. It was helpful to see a…read moreYelp review on this playground, I'm a aunt and I take care of my nieces & nephews every now and then and I'm always looking for playgrounds around the area.