Forest Glen Park Water Feature As Inspiration - Woodridge


On a recent Sunday morning, the kids and I found ourselves out at Forest Glen Park in Woodridge.  It is right on 75th street and we've driven by it hundreds of times on our way to Nat's folks house over the years, but we've never stopped.  The park has a couple of tennis courts facing 75th Street, but tucked in right behind the courts is a nice playground setup with a soft surface, a bunch of unique equipment for a variety of ages.  Our kids - who span from the upper single digits to just past potty-trained found a place to have fun.  Together.  That's pretty nice.

But, the park also has some nice plants (or what appeared to be nice plants since Spring hadn't quite emerged when we arrived) and a neat-looking fountain and/or pond.  You can see the size/scale of the fountain in the photo at the top.  Of note, the fountain is totally out of the ground and at a perfect kid height of like 30" tall. 

I call it a fountain/pond because it is kind of a linear pond or a running creek fountain.  Starts at one end and finishes in a pool at the other end.  Here (below) is the finishing pool where the water runs down to and swirls to a finish.  It is surrounded by boulders and rocks.    The channel runs near the edge of the setup, so kids can kind of 'play' in the stream and not get soaked.  Nice for kids.  And nice for parents.


And here's the start of the fountain.  It was (obviously) not running, but you can imagine that the water would bubble out of this fixture, trickle down the sides and then hit the pool at the bottom before it runs down the channel - that is almost gutter-like - and swirls around the planter.


In this photo you can also see some of the plantings - what looks like native grasses.

We'll have to come back later this year when this is running to see how it works and how kids interact with the water.   I'm filing this post under [backyard dreaming] because it is a relevant datapoint for me as we continue to think about our water feature needs.  Since I found this waterfall in 2017, I've been trying for a way to incorporate something into the backyard.

Those of you wondering where this place is located, here's a Google Maps Streetview that kind of shows the area.  You can't quite make out the fountain from this angle, but trust me...it's there!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Multimeter - Workshop Addition

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe