Dance in the Parks - Tonight at the Boathouse

Another great (and free) event tonight at the boathouse at 6:30. See the flyer below for more.

July Meeting and Upcoming Events in the Park

The Advisory Council will hold its July meeting this Thursday, the 18th at 6:30 pm in the Humboldt Park fieldhouse. All are welcome to attend, please join us to find out more about what the park has to offer and how you can get involved.

With summer in full swing, there are plenty of great events happening in the park.

• On Friday and Saturday, July 19-20th, the Park District and Jazz Institute of Chicago will present an extended version of the popular Jazz City: Latin Jazz Fest at the boathouse. The event features music, dancing and art, and it will run from 7:00 to 9:00 pm on Friday, and from 1:00 to 8:00 pm on Saturday. This event is free and open to all ages, please follow the link above for more info on the line-up and activities.
• On Saturday, July 20th, Friends of the Parks is offering a guided walking tour of Humboldt Park that will highlight the park's history and the vision of its designer, Jens Jensen. The event begins at 9:30 am at the boathouse and will cost $10 for Friends of the Parks members and $15 for non-members. Register here 
• On Tuesday, July 23rd, Dance in the Parks will be held at the boathouse from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. This event features professional dance performances from local groups. It is open to the public and free. Find out more about the performers here.
• On Saturday, July 27th, is the Family Fish Fest at the Humboldt Park lagoon from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. Families can fish in the lagoon, take canoe rides and learn about plant and animal species in the park. All equipment will be provided to fish or canoe and the event is free. 
• On Wednesday, July 31st, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm is SummerDance. A popular summer event in the park, SummerDance features professional dance instruction followed by live music and dancing.

We hope you'll come out and spend some time in Humboldt Park this summer at one of these great events.

Bloomingdale Trail Renaming & Final Plan Presentation Tonight

Tonight at 6:30 pm at the McCormick Tribune YMCA (1834 N. Lawndale) the final plans for the Bloomingdale Trail (now called "The 606") will be on display for viewing. There will be a short presentation by the design team to start the meeting, then visitor will be able to browse exhibits on the plans.

It was also announced today that the name of the trail and elevated park will be changed to "The 606" in reference to the first three digits of Chicago's zip codes. Read more on this from the Trib. Any thoughts on this new name? Feel free to leave a comment.

Humboldt Park Chosen for Chicago Plays Grant and Upcoming Events

The Advisory Council is happy to announce that Humboldt Park has been chosen for the Chicago Plays! program, a collaboration between the Friends of the Park and Chicago Park District to replace public playgrounds in need of repair across the city. Members of a local block group took the initiative to put together a strong application for the playground at the Humboldt Park pool and built support from other community groups and representatives including the Advisory Council, which contributed a letter of support.

In the next few months the members of Chicago Plays! will work with the community to choose a playground design and set a schedule for completing the project. Construction is expected to begin in spring of 2014. If you've been to the pool playground recently (near Augusta and Humboldt) then you've probably noticed how badly in need it is of an upgrade, so we're very excited to be a part of this effort to improve it and we give big thanks to our community partners who worked hard to make it happen.

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Now that June is here there are many great events coming up in the park. Here's a preview, and check back regularly for more.

• Friday June 7th from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. is the Night Out: Music + Movement event in the boathouse, it will include a performance from the Joel Hall dancers. 
• Puerto Rican Fest will be held from Thursday, June 13th to Sunday the 16th
• The popular Jazz City: Latin Jazz Fest will be held on both Friday, July 19th and Saturday the 20th from 7 to 9 p.m. on each night at the boathouse.