Chicago Park District – River Park

Everything is great about this pool except the jacked up schedule. And what is with making everyone leave the deck at certain times, especially right in the middle of the day?

A beautiful day with my dog walking around the Chicago River Park, this spring 2015. Tobie is so playful, obedient, but he’s too much friendly.

There are so many awesome things about River Park. The programs for kids, playground, trails, swimming pool, splash pad and the running track/​soccer field. We use the park all summer/​spring/​fall and my family loves it. My only complaints are that pool schedule is annoying, the pool is always cold and most of the lifeguards are jerks. I’ve never had a problem with them but there is something super rude about adults getting scolded by teenagers. They blow their whistles at every minor infraction. Really all they need to do is make sure no one drowns or trashes the pool no need for the constant whistle blowing.
The best part of the park is Melanie Riehle. She teaches Kiddie College, the middle of the day programs (art, music and gym), she also runs the playgroup, Tot Spot and the Park Kids program. This woman was born to work with kids — she «gets» kids and most importantly she cares about kids. Melanie always had such fun activities planned for the preschoolers — nature walks, science experiments, fun art projects, parties, show and tell and etc. my daughter is completely prepared for kindergarten thanks to Kiddie College. I felt like she went above and beyond what teachers at other parks were doing. She has great communication – always responding to emails and is genuinely a congenial person. I’ve seen her interact with kids from preschool age to middle school age and let me tell you, she knows what she’s doing with every age group. I heard some parents at the playground lamenting about how the summer program was full in a matter of minutes… most likely that’s because of Melanie. She plans all kinds of fun activities for summer camp. I’m done praising her now! Lol, just consider yourself lucky if you get into one of her programs and pray she never leaves River Park!

This park is a clean, well-​kept secret. I love to run the beagle here.
There’s a fenced in, paved dog park if you are feeling social and a clean track if not. Ride your bike, bust out the baby buggy… It is warm, bright, sunny and will make you enjoy getting out!
You can also zone out watching fly fishermen in the river.
Or throw down a picnic blanket for a snack and a nap.
I know it isn’t p.c. to sunbathe anymore but if you are so inclined– no one lectures you here.
Enjoy it!

i went here at a very young age only thing i can not take about it is the cold. the water feels like 62 on a hot day this might be fine but on a not so hot day its darn cold.

I love the sound of water flowing and a bit of breeze while I watch nature in the city.

I played some tennis here at this park. The tennis court doesn’t have a lot of maintenance going on, there are cracks on the ground. I wouldn’t say this park is clean, but it is not that bad.

i luv river park… its fricken huuuuuuge
take the dogs here all the time for a nice long quiet walk… there are always alot of ppl scattered around the park and theyre usually pretty friendly… even if its only because they want to play with my dogs haha
tennis courts… pool…kiddie waterpark… long trails (up past bryn mawr and south to who knows where)…doggie park… soccer fields… playgrounds…softball diamonds… and the infamous sand vball court that i have yet to actually find… does it even exist anymore???
plenty of benches to sit n rest… plenty of trees to camp out under and read or nap… long long trails to tire urself or ur pets out on

A good way to spend Sunday evening with young children and other families. The park has a lot of green expanses, a somewhat crowded playground, an awesome pool and a fun water play area for young children. The water playground is what drew us to visit. The nice part about it is the absence of slides and other fancy stuff, so the younger children can feel less threatened and enjoy the milder sprinklers and water spouts/​fountains etc. The area around the water playground is fenced with only one exit, which makes it a perfect place to corral your little runner. The pool is right next door to the water playground and has ample family swim times on the weekends. Actually the family swim times are at the perfect times too! The pool is large with seating around for parents and children to lounge. The only downside is the less than perfect changing rooms/​bathrooms. If I were going without children, I would probably just dry off and go home to change. Just saying.

The green space for the park is very nice and it even has a nice little dog park. The playground has some awesome equipment and several sections that your kid can choose from. Also, the volleyball court doubles as a big sandbox. The big sell is the water park next to the pool. Call ahead for the water park hours because it does close off for the summer camps. My main problem is that it can get sort of dirty around this park, especially on the pathways to and from the pool.

this park has a beautiful public swimming pool which unfortunately discriminates against childless adults. i am 29 years old and wanted to go there to lay out and read a book while enjoying a nice pool that is paid for by my tax dollars. i was turned away because i didn’t have a child with me as it was «family swim» time. i have never heard of such a thing. when i asked when i was allowed in to swim, i was told «adult swim is 11:00am — 12:30pm». 90 minutes of the day, i am allowed to swim there without a kid. oh and that time is also reserved for parents & tots. (not that i mind b/​c i happen to love children, but it is ironic that parents with «tots» are therefore allowed at this particular pool from 11am — 5:30pm.)
if you are interested in joining together in efforts to stop this discrimination of childless adults, please let me know.

They knocked down half the park for a soccer field with fake grass and it belongs to a school now.
LAME.

River park tennis courts is like where I grew up on. lol. Played there for almost half my life and still do. I’m pretty satisfied with the courts. The wait is sometimes long but I always manage to get in.

I enjoyed this pool when I was babysitting during the day when I was between jobs in 2005. I had no trouble swimming for Family and Open Swim with a 4 year old girl in tow. We would utilize the club house instead of the locker room to avoid the grossness of the locker room. When I returned to the pool once in 2007 and again once in 2008 the women’s locker room was pretty nasty. The pool itself is an amazing sight. It is Olympic sized and there used to be 2 diving boards. The life guards can be pretty nasty. I was yelled at for wearing a swim tank with swim bottoms and board shorts over the bottoms as I was a bit self conscious that day. I also do not like the inquistion that you get when you try to enter by the lifeguard outside the locker room doors. With the size of this pool the hours should be more flexible.

Now that I have their crazy swim schedule figured out it’s not bad. I came here with a few friends yesterday to enjoy the sweltering summer sun. Got here right at 11 and we were whistled out at 12:30. The pool was nice, cool and refreshing. I cannot wait to go back next weekend!

Love the park! Nice trails for walking and running. The pool situation is well, different. I think that they have the worst schedule of all the CPD pools if you are a childless adult. The schedule is very limited and there is no open swim like most pools. I think there schedule is designed to keep «certain people» out so the lovely family’s with children can feel like they have their own private pool.
I have seen them turn away woman of various faiths that don’t allow them to wear a bathing suits. That’s buggin!

Just west of the tennis courts is a public soccer field and track. Just so you know gringos are welcome and you may want to bring some extra change for the ice cream bike vendor.

You think my 4 star rating is for River Park 2009? Heck no, they have since torn down most baseball fields to make more room for… soccer! Oh boy!
My rating is for the Little League Program they had in the 80’s!
Yes this was one of the best park’s to play some organized summer baseball. Best in the area… it was always fun to beat the hell out of neighboring «Wells Park»…they couldn’t hang with River! Grant it back then we didn’t have team names, our team names were «Sponsors» So instead of being the Cubs or the Yankees… you would be «The Hot Dog Pit» or «White Hen Pantry»!
River Park was a rock solid program, had a great Traveling All Star team, Thillen’s Day… and made Little League baseball fun! Still have my memory of jacking a home run onto Foster Avenue!

Decent tennis courts, for a public park.
Lighted.
There is a small backboard on the leftmost court., but balls are prone to fly over.
Short wait at peak times.
The courts are right off of Foster Ave, one stoplight east of Kedzie, and west of California.