Children in Humboldt Park will have only a month before they return to school to enjoy their neighborhood beach.
The improved man-made beach was supposed to reopen in July after residents successfully pushed for its return. But the target date to reopen the city’s only inland beach was bumped to Aug. 5 because of last weekend’s storms, said Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner.
The rainfall delayed the installation of the final layer of new sand to the bottom of the swimming area behind the field house, she said. This week, the beach had to be pumped dry of rainwater, and water also had to be removed elsewhere so crews could pour concrete for a new promenade, Maxey-Faulkner said.
Before the swimming area can be filled with water, crews need to complete the plumbing connections and test the plumbing, she said.
Once the beach reopens, it will have a 10-foot-deep swimming area and a bubbler to maintain water temperature, quality and circulation — eliminating the need for draining and refilling, the Park District said. The estimated $1 million in reopening expenses is to be funded by money saved from closing the beach last summer, Park District officials said.
The high cost of constantly refilling the water — $1 million — was cited as the main reason for keeping the sand dry last summer. Neighborhood residents fought to bring back swimming waters by staging a beach blanket sit-in, signing online petitions and speaking at Park District board meetings.
“I’m really happy that the city of Chicago’s arm — the Chicago Park District — heard what the community wanted and that they made it happen,” said Morgan Halstead, a member of the beach committee for the Humboldt Park Advisory Council.
Humboldt Park isn’t the only city neighborhood that once had a beach. There used to be a beach at Douglas Park on the West Side that was built in 1974, a year after Humboldt Park’s beach. It was closed in the late 1990s when park officials determined it was underused, the Park District said.
“I don’t think there was any outcry to keep the beach at Douglas Park,” said David Doig, who served as Park District superintendent from 1999 to 2004.
A Park District map shows that the beach and swimming area sat north of Ogden Avenue near the field house where the lagoons and golf course currently are. The golf course has been recently eyed as a potential site for a Ravinia-style outdoor music venue.
Keeping the beach was a huge victory for the Humboldt Park community, said resident Rousemary Vega, 36, who was raised in the neighborhood. “If we didn’t get up and fight, we were not going to have a beach,” she said. The beach is a welcoming place where the community comes together, she said.
But she does have one issue: the timing.
“I’m happy it’s opening but also upset and hurt about the fact that our community Humboldt Park and the surrounding communities only have about 25 days of utilizing the beach before everybody goes back to school,” she said.
While lakefront beaches are set to close for the season after Labor Day, the Park District said it is planning to extend the beach season at Humboldt Park to give residents more time to swim there. Chicago Public Schools students start classes Sept. 6.
The community is planning to celebrate the reopening of the beach the first weekend in August with local musicians, children’s activities, yoga, beach blanket bingo, snow cones and popcorn.
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