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Waukegan Parks and Recreation

A Great Time

There are endless opportunities for fun in Waukegan!

A wealth of natural and man-made recreational facilities provides residents and visitors with a wide variety of activities throughout the year.

During the summer months, Waukegan becomes a Midwestern recreational hub.

Waukegan Municipal Beach, home to a half-mile of gorgeous white sand, is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. It is groomed daily and is staffed by trained lifeguards. The beach boasts the only remaining natural dunes in the area.

Activities include volleyball, windsurfing, swimming, sunbathing, picnicking, beachfront bonfires and live concerts.

Waukegan Harbor is the world’s freshwater Coho salmon capital. It is home to the Great Lakes’ finest fishing fleet and several fishing piers. Anglers land salmon, trout and perch at Waukegan Harbor. The harbor boasts a beautiful lakefront and marina with promenade, park, and is located near the public swimming beach. There are many slips to accommodate any craft, from sailboats to luxury cruisers. Additional harbor amenities include convenient parking, snack shops, dining, bait and tackle shops, fish cleaning stations, full service boat repair, maintenance and storage, and yacht club.

The Waukegan Charter Boat Association, the oldest and largest charter boat fleet on Lake Michigan, has seventeen professional sport fishing charter boat captains that offer world-class salmon fishing from April through November. All boats are equipped with the finest fishing tackle and electronic equipment for your fishing pleasure, comfort and safety.

Waukegan’s nationally acclaimed park district is comprised of 46 neighborhood and community parks with 719 acres of land. It offers a wide variety of recreation and fitness facilities, including youth and adult sports programs, such as: softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball and football. League play and recreational team sports are offered. Individual sports and fitness programs are also offered, such as: tennis, martial arts, gymnastics, swim lessons, group fitness, track & field and golf.

Whether you want to impress all of your guests at your wedding or you simply like to sizzle on the dance floor, the park district offers several dance classes to help you fine-tune your moves. Choose from ballroom dance, Latin, swing, ballet, pre-ballet, salsa, tap and jazz.

For the artistically inclined, several arts and crafts classes are offered throughout the year, including holiday workshops at the Jack Benny Center for the Arts. The park district also sponsors several holiday and seasonal events designed to delight people of all ages, including the infamous Polar Bear Plunge, Winterfest, Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival, Kid’s Fishing Derby, Fourth of July Parade and Festival, Halloweenfest and Turkey Trot.

Special programs for youth include various camps, after school programs, preschool, babysitting classes, teen activities, cooking, holiday adventures, and craft and nature clubs, among others.

The park district opened The Field House at Hinkston Park in fall of 2006. The Field House boasts over 80,000 square feet of the most modern, state of the art facilities in the area. Amenities include a three-story climbing wall, six-court hardwood gymnasium, 1/7 of a mile indoor track, 14,000 square foot fitness center, meeting rooms, locker rooms, and a child center.

Individuals with disabilities or special needs can participate in a number of recreational activities through the Special Recreation Services of Northern Lake County (SRSNLC). As an extension of the park district, SRSNLC conducts a variety of recreation programs throughout the year, including a Very Special Arts Fair, weekly bowling, Special Olympic Track and Field, dance nights, social clubs, dinner excursions, movie trips and more.

Waukegan Park District also offers numerous playing fields and an outdoor swimming pool at Belvidere Park.

The Northern Lake Family YMCA houses an indoor pool, racquetball courts, gymnasium, fitness center and indoor track, and offers a variety of fitness programs for children, teens and adults.

A senior citizens recreation center, Park Place, has craft workshops, games, dance classes and many other programs for Waukegan residents. The city also features two local flying clubs that operate out of Waukegan Regional Airport, the Waukegan Wings and Stick and Rudder, one of the largest and oldest flying clubs in the U.S.

Waukegan is a veritable golfer’s paradise with four professional golf courses right in its own backyard. The Midlane Golf Resort, a public facility located at Hawthorne Suites, boasts a par 72, 18-hole course amidst the backdrop of one of Waukegan’s newest housing developments. Greenshire Golf Course, located on the north side of Waukegan, offers the novice to most accomplished golfer a challenge. It is a nine-hole, par 27 course, and according to PGA professional Marv Rezabek, it is one of Lake County’s best-kept secrets. Bonnie Brook is an 18-hole, par 72 course on rolling, wooded terrain. It is renowned for its beauty and is consistently ranked as one of the top 50 public golf courses in Chicagoland. Finally, Orchard Hills Country Club boasts an 18-hole, par 71 course that was built in 1920.

Outdoor adventurers enjoy bicycle riding on the North Shore trail system that stretches from Wisconsin to Chicago. It offers some of the nation’s most breathtaking scenery year-round. Also nearby are horseback riding, skiing and ice skating facilities. The park district recently unveiled a new skate park located on the former site of the Whyte Pool in Bowen Park. The park features 2,000 square feet of skateable surface and has an elevated launch deck, vertical wall, fun boxes with a grinding wall and ledge, and grinding rails.

For more outdoor fun, Illinois Beach State Park on Lake Michigan in Zion presents a more subdued change of pace, with swimming, camping, hiking and natural wonders.

For those who prefer to exercise their minds, the Waukegan Public Library, lays claim to having one of the largest collections in Lake County, with more than 226,000 books, 19,000 videos and DVDs, 11,000 CDs and cassettes, and more. There are 73 computer terminals with Internet access, word processing, games and educational software available for public use. The library hosts a variety of special interest and cultural events programs throughout the year as well, from reading clubs for children to adult literacy programs. The library has two bookmobiles and a satellite branch in the new park district Field House at Hinkston Park that was opened in the fall of 2006.

Whether one fancies the great outdoors, head-to-head sports competition or quiet retreats, he or she will discover a recreational resource in Waukegan that is sure to delight.