Visitors to Naperville always tell me how unusual it is to find such nice outdoor amenities so close to the downtown. Usually, they’re talking about the garden plots and the Von Oven scout reservation. I tell them they haven’t seen the best part yet.
That’s because the newly renovated Sportsman’s Park is hidden away between the two properties. Very recently reopened after an extensive cleanup, renovation and replanting, the park includes a lovely new trail system, ponds, a wetland restoration and three renewed trapshooting stations.
Originally, the targets in trapshooting were real passenger pigeons released from cages called traps. In the late 16th century, when viruses from Europe wiped out 90 percent of the Native Americans, the passenger pigeon population “broke out.” A century later, the supply of the birds seemed limitless.
Of course, it was not. The last passenger pigeon, named Martha, died in 1914, so now the targets are biodegradable clay disks shot from spring-loaded catapults, which are still sometimes called pigeons and traps. At Sportsman’s, only steel shot, nothing heavier than 6 weight, is permitted. No lead whatsoever. That’s all been cleaned up.
The three lighted trap fields with microphone releases are available only on Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon. The cost is minimal, and there are members of the Sportsman’s Club available to help you. People tell me they’re the friendliest, most welcoming folks they’ve ever met, and the program’s success is clearly due to their efforts.
The rest of the time, the park is open for exploration and enjoyment, but it may be entered only through the public gates on the east side, off the asphalt road near West Street and at the parking lot at Martin Avenue. Picnic tables near the clubhouse are available all the time, but the shooting area and the clubhouse with its restrooms, are open only during shooting times. The newly planted vegetation has yet to mature, and more trees are scheduled to be planted next spring, but the park looks great already.
There are two ponds on the property, joined by a stream. They were to have been dredged deeper so that fish would have a better chance of surviving the winter. The estimate for doing that, however, turned out to be $1 million per pond, for some unknown reason, so that proved to be impossible.
Park District Executive Director Ray McGury, however, had promised that people were going to be able to fish in the ponds, so that’s the way it’s going to be. The ponds will be stocked every spring, in case any of the fish die during an especially cold winter, which as the climate warms should be increasingly unlikely. Fishing will be catch-and-release, as it is in Whalon Lake and other local fishing areas.
During the warm months, fishing classes, archery classes and other activities will be held in the park. They can be arranged through the Park District. I know of no other public facility like this and certainly no other one so close to a downtown. We are, in my opinion, lucky to have it.
Something else we can look forward to next summer is a refurbished Riverwalk Eatery, which efficiencies in the budget suddenly allowed. Inside work on the bathrooms and other parts of the building will begin in January. Work on the new patio will begin as weather allows.
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Barring a puritanical turn by the Park Board, beer and wine will be served as well as, I am told, a decent hot dog. The Eatery will be pet friendly, so next summer you and the pooch can relax on the new patio and watch the paddleboats. It will give us something to look forward to during February, when we finally get good and sick of snow.
Bill Mego is a freelance columnist for the Naperville Sun.