Monday-Saturday – 10:30am-2:30pm & 3:00-8:00pm
Sunday – 10:30am-2:30pm & 3:00-7:00pm
Friday – 4:00-7:00pm
Saturday – 12:00-5:00pm
Sunday – 12:00-5:00pm
Memorial Day – 12:00-5:00pm
4th of July – 12:00-5:00pm
Labor Day – 12:00-5:00pm
Reservations for May 29-June 13 are NOW OPEN for residents. Nonresident registration begins May 24.
LATEST UPDATE 5/19/21: The State of Illinois, DuPage County, Region 8, is in the Bridge Phase of the Restore Illinois Plan.
Safety continues to be our top priority.
For OUTDOOR Activities, the use of face coverings for fully vaccinated individuals, age 12 and over is optional. Face coverings continue to be required for nonvaccinated individuals, and children over the age of 2 and under the age of 12.
For INDOOR Activities, face coverings and social distancing is still required for all individuals.
Here are the changes that will take place:
Coral Cove Water Park – The outdoor water park will open on May 29! Daily passes will be sold and season passes are not available. Reservations are required. Social distancing, face coverings, limited capacity, and enhanced cleaning protocols are in place. Visit webpage for more details.
Fountain View Fitness Center & Indoor Track – The fitness center and indoor track will continue to operate as it has been currently. Members may continue drop in for Group Fitness classes. View our group fitness and group aqua fitness schedules. Virtual Group Fitness will continue to be offered. Face coverings must be worn at all times while in the fitness center, including while working out.
Open Gym –Face coverings are required at all times for FVF Member Open Gym, including during play.
Indoor Pool – The indoor pool will continue to operate as it has been currently with reservations required for lap lane swim. Pool locker rooms will remain open. Face coverings must be worn at all times to and from the time you enter/exit the water. View the most up-to-date group aqua fitness schedule.
Dance, Gymnastics, Theatre – Curbside drop-off/pick-up, face coverings, and social distancing are required. One parent/guardian can wait in the hallway during class for registrants 4 years & under. For parent-child classes, only one adult is permitted. Registration is still open!
Awesome Adventure Camp – Awesome Adventure Camp registration is open. Campers are sorted into pods of no more than 30 campers, kept a minimum of 3ft apart for social distancing within their pod. Campers spend a majority of the day active and outside. Curbside drop-off and pick-up is in effect. Face coverings are required.
Preschool – In-person and virtual preschool options are offered in the summer and 2021-2022 school year. Children will be socially-distanced and face coverings are required. Curbside drop-off and pick-up are currently in place.
ActivKids Childcare – Hybrid Learning continues at Simkus Recreation Center through the end of the school year. After Care is available as well. Face coverings and social distancing are still in place. Registration is available!
Rentals: Indoor rentals are now available at the Fountain View and Simkus Recreation Centers. Groups up to 160 people can be accommodated.
Youth Birthday Parties: Indoor and outdoor are available. Maximum capacity depends on party package chosen.
Special Events: Check out our Digital Guide for all upcoming indoor and outdoor special events.
Sports –We are following the All Sports Policy, and each sport is provided guidance at the beginning of the season. Check website for details
Browse the Digital Guide for current program opportunities.
UPDATE 5/14/21: The State of Illinois Moves to the Bridge Phase of the Restore Illinois Plan.
DuPage County, Region 8, has been cleared to move to the Bridge Phase of the Restore Illinois Plan. Safety continues to be our top priority. Face coverings and social distancing are still required by IDPH at all times, but some restrictions have been modified. Here are the changes that will take place:
Coral Cove Water Park – The outdoor water park will open on May 29! Daily passes will be sold and season passes are not available. Reservations are required. Social distancing, face coverings, limited capacity, and enhanced cleaning protocols are in place. Visit webpage for more details.
Fountain View Fitness Center & Indoor Track – The fitness center and indoor track will continue to operate as it has been currently. Members may continue drop in for Group Fitness classes. View our group fitness and group aqua fitness schedules. Virtual Group Fitness will continue to be offered. Face coverings must be worn at all times while in the fitness center, including while working out.
Open Gym –Face coverings are required at all times for FVF Member Open Gym, including during play.
Indoor Pool – The indoor pool will continue to operate as it has been currently with reservations required for lap lane swim. Pool locker rooms will remain open. Face coverings must be worn at all times to and from the time you enter/exit the water. View the most up-to-date group aqua fitness schedule.
Dance, Gymnastics, Theatre – Curbside drop-off/pick-up, face coverings, and social distancing are required. One parent/guardian can wait in the hallway during class for registrants 4 years & under. For parent-child classes, only one adult is permitted. Registration is still open!
Awesome Adventure Camp – Awesome Adventure Camp registration is open. Campers are sorted into pods of no more than 30 campers, kept a minimum of 3ft apart for social distancing within their pod. Campers spend a majority of the day active and outside. Curbside drop-off and pick-up is in effect. Face coverings are required.
Preschool – In-person and virtual preschool options are offered in the summer and 2021-2022 school year. Children will be socially-distanced and face coverings are required. Curbside drop-off and pick-up are currently in place.
ActivKids Childcare – Hybrid Learning continues at Simkus Recreation Center through the end of the school year. After Care is available as well. Face coverings and social distancing are still in place. Registration is available!
Rentals: Indoor rentals are now available at the Fountain View and Simkus Recreation Centers. Groups up to 160 people can be accommodated.
Youth Birthday Parties: Indoor and outdoor are available. Maximum capacity depends on party package chosen.
Special Events: Check out our Digital Guide for all upcoming indoor and outdoor special events.
Sports –We are following the All Sports Policy, and each sport is provided guidance at the beginning of the season. Check website for details
Browse the Digital Guide for current program opportunities.
Posted by the Village of Carol Stream, 5/7/21
The Village of Carol Stream and the Carol Stream Park District have been alerted to a nuisance coyote in the prairie areas around North Avenue and Kuhn Road. The prairie areas span from west of Kuhn Road and surround the Carol Stream water reclamation plant. Your Village and Park District are working with wildlife agencies on a solution but also encourage caution in or near natural areas.
Coyote mating season, which sees more aggressive male behavior, ended in March. We are now in den preparation season which may result in more daytime sightings. We often see this increased daytime activity through June as they look for food sources for their recently weaned pups.
We ask the community to do the following to deter a coyote:
At this time, it is in the community’s best interests to use caution and stay aware of your surroundings in or near these prairies areas.
Previous Living with Wildlife article.
The Carol Stream Park District’s 2020 Year in Review welcomes back residents to the park district. A letter from Executive Director Jim Reuter begins our 2020 story. The Year in Review highlights health and the outdoors in 2020, a generous donation to the Veterans Memorial Plaza, honors two master Board members and the support of the Carol Stream Parks Foundation with a donation to the scholarship fund. The Year in Review summarizes our cleaning, sanitizing and social distancing measures, our transition to a digital program guide and online registration. Highlights from the Recreation department’s program areas and the Parks department are featured. Additionally, 2020 saw some financial highlights which are featured on the last page.
The Carol Stream Park District is trying an anti-litter experiment in our parks by removing some trash cans. One will think this experiment is counterproductive to preventing litter in our parks. The fact of the matter is, taking your trash home is the result of an environmentally sensitive mindset. Sounds simple, but how do you change the mindset of residents who are used to having trash cans in our parks?
The challenge will be in getting the word out to our residents and asking them to give this idea a try! We expect to hear, “you’ve tried that before and it didn’t work,” or “our tax dollars pay for this.” Tax dollars do pay for many things at the park district, and we constantly look for the best way to manage the trust our residents have placed in us to use those tax dollars wisely. Nearly 50-60% of the services we provide are not covered by tax dollars, so 40-50% of the park district services are funded by the revenue generated through our programs. We watch every penny spent and are transparent in our financial reporting as recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 20th consecutive year.
The WALK YOUR TRASH HOME Program is another example of the park district’s effort to do more with less. COVID drastically cut into the earned revenue side of the park district’s business and resulted in staff being cut by more than 25 percent leaving fewer staff to maintain our 456 acres of open space, 46 parks and playgrounds, and empty trash cans. Removing trash cans from various locations gains us 40 hours a week of staff time to use towards open space, sport fields, park and playground upkeep.
You are right; we tried this experiment a few years ago and it didn’t work. Residents left their dog waste and trash where cans “used to be.” There are many people who don’t bother to use the trash cans – even when they are available. But we’re going to try this again with the addition of educating our residents on ‘why’ we are doing so.
Over the years, national and state parks have experimented with the removal of trash cans, especially in areas that are hard to get to with a maintenance vehicle. For example, national parks in Southwestern Pennsylvania are “Trash Free Parks”. Their Leave No Trace program advocates for visitors to the parks to share the responsibility for managing solid waste. Further, their notices at the entrances to the parks say, “Trash cans have been removed from the park to protect and improve the environment. This program is designed to encourage reuse and recycling practices. We all share the responsibility for managing solid waste and the park’s environment.” Because of environmentally sensitive visitors, the land remains pristine.
The Chicago Park District removed a number of trash cans from five of its largest parks in 2001. The concept was simple: According to the parks superintendent at that time, “a lack of garbage cans will encourage people to “bag up” their garbage and “take it home.” The Chicago Park District found out that less trash was being thrown out, and parks were cleaner.
Walking your trash home is an environmentally conscious mindset; it also represents respect of our community and fellow residents. A litterbug will continue to litter, trash can or not. And the Carol Stream Park District will still pick up trash at parks. But human trash belongs to the human who produced it; so why not take it home? Leaving dog waste bags where a can “used to be”, or any waste for that matter, pollutes your community and neighborhood; it’s disrespectful to your neighbors.
The Carol Stream Park District is asking that our residents to be a good neighbor, to be environmentally conscious and help us in this new way to keep our parks clean. When having a picnic in one of the parks, bring extra bags for your garbage and take it home. Take your dog waste home. Better yet, help us by picking up trash when you see it. Take a walk through a park and do your part. If every resident does his/her best to keep our parks and neighborhoods clean, we become a better community. Help us to teach each other and future generations to be responsible members of our community.
We hope you join us in supporting the WALK YOUR TRASH HOME campaign and be responsible and environmentally sensitive to the Carol Stream Community.
Opinion piece by Jim Reuter, Executive Director
So here we are, one year later and still under the “pandemic”. What a year! Better, yes…vaccines are getting out there and people are getting more comfortable (and excited) to get out and get back to “normal”. But I pose this question…is that what we want?
I consider myself a Christian and of course I believe there is a higher power and I believe that that higher power doesn’t want “normal” again, which in my mind, through this tragedy, we have been able to find some light…and in my business, finding light at the end of the tunnel is what gets us through. That and hope.
But what is “normal” or should I say what was “normal”? Normal was commuting to the work every day and on the way in and on the way out…heavy traffic. Normal was working 10-12 hours a day, trying to get home and get the kids to band practice, softball practice, soccer practice, etc. sometimes two or more kids to two or more locations and oh yeah…we need to eat dinner, we’ll do that at 8pm or later, watch a little television, play on our devices or check work emails (again) go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow.
As long as I mentioned that I am a Christian, let’s talk church. Pre-pandemic, get up, drive as fast as we could to get to mass on time, stay the hour and then head home or to another practice or game…phew! Now, church is something that people are craving as they have had to attend virtually (until recently) and mass times are busting at the seams. Church is that thing that when we have it we take it for granted and when it’s harder to get to and when we think we need some extra help (like during a pandemic) we pay more attention. If you’re anything like me, the relationship I have built with God these last 12 months is stronger than it’s ever been and just as a side note…it works.
Back to “normal”. I drive into work around 6:30am and observe, as the weather gets nicer, people walking on the trails and sidewalks, riding their bikes, walking their dogs, jogging. People are outside more now than ever and the parks and playgrounds have kids on them. Pickleball is everywhere and kids, yes I said kids…are playing outside!
This pandemic, like you I’m sure, has shown us how to slow down, how to appreciate our families and friends, people as a whole. How to read a book, take up a new hobby, learn an instrument, ride a bike again, adopt a dog, get some fresh air and get dirty. The weather is breaking here in the Midwest and the times I have visited my local garden center, I have not been able to find a parking place. Which to me indicates that as soon as Mother Nature allows, you will see people in their yards like never before. I have been part of a virtual cooking group (now in person) this whole time and have met a steady group of friends every Wednesday morning for coffee and that will not stop, the job will just have to wait.
So I ask again…do you want to go back to what we considered “normal”? Slow down, smell the flowers, cook and eat a great meal with your family and friends and I think you will find the answer.
UPDATED! Digital Activity Guide
May & June Programs Added
We are pleased to offer so many more in-person opportunities as we move into Summer!
Browse the digital guide for April, May, and June sports, events, and programs today!
The Carol Stream Park District’s Armstrong Park North Parking Lot project has been selected for funding through the FY2021 DuPage County Water Quality Improvement Program Grant. The maximum funding amount is 25 percent of the related projects costs. The DuPage County Stormwater Management Planning Committee approved funding for the Armstrong Park project is no more than $40,395 for qualified costs, which equates to a 25 percent reimbursement.
The Armstrong Park North Parking lot, located off Idaho Street, is identified in the recently approved Klein Creek Watershed Plan to replace an existing asphalt parking lot with permeable pavers and a vegetated swale system. It is an excellent project for Water Quality Improvement Program funding as it incorporates two Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will contribute to the pollutant load reduction of the Klein Creek Watershed. Specifically, this project will reduce two pollutants of concern from the 303(d) list for the West Branch DuPage River: phosphorus loads will decrease by 65% and sediment by 90% for the project’s drainage area of 53.7 acres. Incorporating these BMPs into the north parking lot will also encourage stormwater infiltration, groundwater recharge, and provide an educational awareness of the importance of reducing non-point source pollutants, as well as improve aesthetics of the area. Further, the proposed project improvements have been identified as a specific project to be completed in the Klein Creek Watershed Plan. The project will be completed by fall of 2021.
DuPage County Stormwater Management Committee Chairman Jim Zay said, “The projects we selected to partially fund will not only greatly benefit the DuPage waterways but will also serve as examples to the public of projects that can be undertaken on a smaller scale at area homes and businesses.”
The Carol Stream Park District is excited to announce that it will be moving its preschool program in April to the Simkus Recreation Center, 849 W. Lies Road. The new location offers three new classrooms and a brand new playground (Fall 2021); year-round access to the gym and gymnastics rooms; ability for parents to see their child’s teachers, classrooms and meet other parents; possibilities for extended care and enrichment; opportunities for parents to enroll in other programs and classes while their child is in class; and parking is plentiful and with better accessibility to the Simkus Recreation Center. The move is planned for an extended spring break starting March 29, with in-person classes beginning on Monday, April 12.
The park district preschool program has been a community tradition for over 40 years, giving first-time students a balanced play-based learning experience that focuses on the development of pre-kindergarten skills.
An open house is planned for current preschool participants on Friday, April 9. Registration opens in May for the Fall 2021 through May 2022 school year, and an open house is planned for Tuesday, May 4, for new participants and families. Summer preschool programming at the Simkus Recreation Center begins in June. The summer preschool program is a great way to familiarize young children to the preschool year that begins in September.
