Chicagoland is pretty good about saving some space for nice little neighborhood parks. We helped friends set up a Sunday morning kids' birthday party at Prairie District Park, a block north of Cermak, two blocks east of Michigan, kitty-corner from Suntrust Basketball Arena. Well, we always said "kitty"-corner. Some say "caddy", or "catty", or "cater", and it's claimed to be from "quatre" describing opposite corners of a 4-spot square. I might as well get it over-with and admit we grew up calling every overgrown lot a prairie!
It's a 14000-square-foot fenced park. About 3/4 of it is a separately fenced kids play area with several 4-seat tables, encircled by a bricked walkway with five more 4-seat tables, separate from a smaller fenced dog-park with it's own paved walkways. The two "inner" parks each have their own gates, so only the walkway has a gate directly out to the street, a thoughtful safety feature. We got there about 9am, too late for the limited street-parking on the front and side of the park, and people who lived too far to walk here found just-enough parking nearby around the neighborhood.
We took over two of the tables, one for gifts and one for snacks. There's a rumor of a Starbucks in the hotel across the street, but we brought our own easy-to-handle bottle of cold-brew. Our dozen-or-so mostly 5 and 6-year-olds played for a couple of hours on the swing and climbers and slides, and screamed on the "Dad you're making it too fast" spin-it-yourself 3 or 4-child merry-go-round carousel. They all dressed for the fountain splash-pad! Perfect in the morning during a 90° heat-wave! The parents of one child (we didnt know) from the neighborhood brought an electric car, and their child shared little rides along the bricked walkway. A number of us enjoyed watching the dogs "next door" through the fence, and in fact the dogs were all friendly and quiet! We closed with a home-hade piñata of treats held-high because there really was no strong tree or structure in the walkway to support it.
A lovely morning in a fun park in a friendly neighborhood. That's the report from Chicago, "the Paris of the prairies" :-) read more