News

Simkus Recreation Center will be open from 6am to noon only on Memorial Day. Coyote Crossing Mini Golf will be open from 11am-6pm. Wear red, white and blue to golf for half price.

Coral Cove Water Park opens for the season on June 1. Come help us kick off the pool season at the Family Summer Splash pool party packed with fun and games for all ages. Participate in a prize dive, frozen t-shirt race, hula hoop race, tug of war, and much.  Featuring DJ GC. And a special performance by Sammy & the Star Girls! The water park opens at 11am (10:30am for season pass holders), activities are scheduled from 2-6pm.

This year pass holders and daily visitors will be able to enjoy a new play area and structure to replace the sand area at the water park, and pass holders will also be able to purchase a 2013 reusable Souvenir Cup, which includes discount fountain drinks for the entire season.

Visit www.coralcovewaterpark.com for season pass rates and special event information.

Large crowds came out for the eigth annual JustPlay! Sports & Recreation Festival on May 18 and 19, and as well as enjoying some great weather, visitors had the opportunity to see some amazing stunts by Division BMX and the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Club, learn soccer skills from Chicago Red Stars player Michelle Wenino, play with professional players from Chicago’s Windy City Wildfire Ultimate team, and try new sports including spikeball, rugby and paddlebaording.

Thank you to everyone who came out for this year’s festival.We’d like to get your feedback on the event and help us improve the festival for 2014! Please follow this link to take our short survey. http://conta.cc/13CsKxm

Photos from the festival and the 5k run are available on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/justplayfestival.

Get putting at Coyote Crossing Mini Golf! Our 18-hole course opened for the spring season on May 4. The course will open from 11am-10pm on Saturdays and 11am-7pm on Sundays until June 10, when full summer hours begin.

Rates have been kept at the same low prices as 2012, at only $5 per round, or buy a 10 round pass for only $45. Tots two and under play free. Visit www.coyotecrossingminigolf.com for details of our May special events, which include Mother’s Day on May 12 and Memorial Day on May 27.

Coyote Crossing Mini Golf is on North Avenue, next to McCaslin Park and the Wheaton Bible Church.

The Summer 2013 Youth and Adult Activity Guides are now available to view online. Browse the youth guide for information on Summer Camps, Coral Cove Water Park, the Springers gymnastics team, the Dolphins Swim Team,  and new programs including youth lacrosse leagues and baton twirling classes.

Browse the adult guide for information on Fountain View Fitness Center memberships, summer golf events, summer softball leagues and new programs including digital photography workshops and wedding dance workshops.

The Earth Day Festival and Farmers’ Market is taking place as scheduled on Saturday April 20 from 10am-2pm at Carol Stream Town Center. Due to this week’s flooding, however, the Village of Carol Stream has cancelled the recycling portion of the event.

Activities this year include the chance to make your own tote bag from recycled plastic bags, a reptile show, touch a tractor, and the first 100 children will be able to make a wooden toolbox in the Home Depot Kids Craft Corner.

Community organizations including District 93 schools, Carol Stream Library, Friends of the Great Western Trails and Hanover Park Apiary will be sharing information on their green initiatives and two dozen vendors will be selling everything from cherry salsa to handmade soap in this year’s Farmers’ Market. Visit our virtual farmers’ market on pinterest to view some of the items available.

More information is available on our Earth Day webpage.

Ever wanted to try beekeeping? We’ve just added a new class that wasn’t in the Winter Activity Guides.

Discover why more people are turning to natural, treatment-free beekeeping methods to save time and money, and produce healthier, stronger, locally-adapted honey bees. Learn about basic honey bee biology and behavior, fundamental beekeeping skills and equipment, beehive assembly and maintenance, honey extraction, and seasonal tasks. If conditions permit, students may attend an optional field trip in April to observe a hive installation. The instructor manages hives for the Village of Hanover Park and serves as the Chair of the Hanover Park Environmental Committee.

The program takes place on Mondays, 2/25-4/1, 7:00-9:00 pm at Simkus Recreation Center, $50 per person. Register at Simkus Recreation Center or register online with code 32866

Participants in our Forever Young outings will now be riding in a new 39 passenger bus. The first trip in the new bus took place on Tuesday, Jan 29, with passengers enjoying improved heating, a fully accessible lift, space for two wheelchairs, a DVD player, two TV screens and a PA system.

View the Winter 2013 Adult Activity Guide for upcoming trips.

Dads – it’s time to start practicing your dance moves! Daughters (ages 4yrs+) can let their hair down and dance the night away at this year’s formal dance. The annual event returns to St. Andrews Golf Club on Feb 22 and 23 for an evening of dinner, music and entertainment.

Dad’s dinner includes salad, champagne chicken, baked potato, vegetable and dessert. Daughters will enjoy chicken fingers, pasta and dessert. A 3×5 picture of the couple is included in the fee & available for pick-up one week later. Register at Simkus Recreation Center or register online.

The evening costs $33 for residents, $49 for non-residents, per person. The event begins at 6:30pm on both nights. Register early as this event can sell out fast!

Dads – it’s time to start practicing your dance moves! Daughters (ages 4yrs+) can let their hair down and dance the night away at this year’s formal dance. The annual event returns to St. Andrews Golf Club on Feb 22 and 23 for an evening of dinner, music and entertainment.

Dad’s dinner includes salad, champagne chicken, baked potato, vegetable and dessert. Daughters will enjoy chicken fingers, pasta and dessert. A 3×5 picture of the couple is included in the fee & available for pick-up one week later. Register at Simkus Recreation Center or register online.

The evening costs $33 for residents, $49 for non-residents, per person. The event begins at 6:30pm on both nights. Register early as this event can sell out fast!

After over 14 years of service, the community-built Kids World playground structure in Armstrong Park is in need of replacement – and we need your feedback.

Residents raised $130,000 and spent countless hours building the playground in 1998, and during construction a conscious choice was made to not use chemically-treated wood. However, even after a restoration project in 2008, park district staff recommended to the Park Board that the playground should be replaced.

Replacement playground options will be presented at two town-hall style meetings on Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 9:00am and 7:30pm at Simkus Recreation Center. Please plan to attend – your input is needed!

Everywhere you turn these days, you’ll see some kind of advice on fighting off holiday stress. Magazines, TV news, blogs all claim to have the cure. But you don’t need to look any further than just outside your window to find the oldest, easiest answer to soothing frazzled nerves. It’s in the little bits of nature all around us.

The restorative powers of natural surroundings are well documented. Beginning back in the 1970’s at the University of Michigan, researchers noticed that mental fatigue, and the associated psychological distress, was caused by too much direct attention to tasks. Creativity, cognitive abilities, and mood all suffer. The antidote to this is contact with or observation of natural scenery. People’s abilities and moods recover almost instantly.

The Japanese, who have long believed in the positive effects of nature, actually practice “forest bathing”. They wash away the stresses of urban life in greenery. New research started in 2004 to record the measurable positive effects of being outside. Blood pressure, stress hormones, depression all decrease after visits to forests. Results are so convincing, the government there intends to establish 100 “forest therapy” sites in ten years to help de-stress its urban population.

Steven Covey, in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, recommends week-long sojourns into the wilderness. The effects, he says, stay with you well after you return to “normal” life. I myself have found this to be true. It instills a sense of calm that persists for a good month or more. Problems at work, family conflicts, booked-to-the-hilt schedules, happen at the same rate they did before, but the stress seems to just roll off. It doesn’t stick.

But for those of us who can’t just take off and go camping whenever things get hectic, there are easy ways to add a bit of nature in your everyday life. Outside Magazine, in its December 6 e-newsletter, tells us that just five minutes of exposure to nature can make a difference in lifting your spirits. If you can’t do that, even photos of the out-of-doors can effectively substitute for the real thing.

But why make do when you’ve got it all just outside your door? We are fortunate in our state to have special districts established to provide public parks on a very local level. Right here in the Carol Stream Park District, nearly every home has a free public park within a five minute walk. And more and more, they are all connected by trail ways to make it easier for you to get the full benefits of nature therapy and some exercise to boot. Even if you’re not up to a walk or jog, a good quiet sit on a park bench, soaking up the scenery, will still lift your spirits and soothe your soul.

In light of the recent tragedy that took place in Connecticut, the Carol Stream Park District is reviewing and updating its emergency plans and procedures.  It is the Park District’s intention to provide a safe environment for employees and the public who use our programs, facilities, and parks. If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to contact us at info@csparks.org.

Our New Year team fitness challenge, the Fantasy Fitness League, begins on January 7 – and now there’s more chances to win.

Find yourself a teammate and register at Simkus Recreation Center to get your moisture wicking Fantasy Fitness league t-shirt.  From Jan 6 – Mar 2 compete for prizes against other teams in the league by working out as many times as you can each week (we’ll be keeping track and keeping score).

1st Place – Two Annual All-Inclusive MyChoice Memberships
2nd Place – Two 3 Month All-Inclusive MyChoice Memberships
3rd Place – Two 3 Month Fitness Center Memberships

Plus one weekly prize awarded via random draw.