When you had as much fun as we did last year touring Lake County’s playgrounds, it demands an encore performance. The epic re-release of The Little Lake County Playground Tour 2015 certainly did not disappoint – and we owe it all to our fans who came out to rock the playground!
We kicked off the Playground Tour with a classic favorite. At Bowen Park with the Waukegan Park District, you came, you saw, and you conquered 40-foot tube slides and a giant spider climb. Three Brothers Theatre had us in stitches with their offbeat presentation of Alice in Wonderland.
We went on a playground safari with the Lindenhurst Park District at Millennium Park and you guys saved hundreds of toys from the landfill by bringing them in for recycling, courtesy of Tom’s of Maine recycling boxes. Our friends from Brainstorm, an educational retail store in Lindenhurst, brought fun activities as well as donated a new toy box for the winner of our prize drawing!

The party was rockin’ at Jewett Park with the Deerfield Park District during their Eat to the Beat concert series. Music, sunshine, and lots of new friends came out to shake, shimmy, climb, slide and swing! We even had a visit from the Deerfield Fire Department; don’t worry, the only thing burning was the pavement under our dance shoes.

Our fourth tour stop was bittersweet as we bid a fond farewell to the much-loved Kids’ Castle at Deerpath Park with the Vernon Hills Park District. As much as we all loved this unique, wooden playground, we are all excited about the unveiling of the new playground in Spring 2016. If you’d like to participate in the community-wide volunteer effort to rebuild the playground, contact Amy Lamberti by filling out this form.
Despite our good-byes, there was simply no time for tears – we were too busy having a blast with The Science Party! The Science Party offers classes and birthday parties featuring science demonstrations, instruction, and hands-on learning, in a safe, child-friendly setting.
The beautiful playground images below were captured by Erika Williams of Just Peach Photography. Visit our Facebook album for all the tour stop images.

A gorgeous summer sunset signaled the close of our fifth and final tour stop at Cook Park with the Wauconda Park District. We had a wild time with Animal Quest, which offers live animal presentations, displays, and mini petting zoos for schools, libraries, park districts, fundraisers, birthday parties, and other special events. Learn more about them in our Animal Quest profile.
The energetic images below were captured by Rosie Bridges Photography. Visit our Facebook Album for all the final tour stop images by Rosie.

As we make our final curtain call of our tour, we are pleased to announce the winners of our Foss Swim School giveaway. It was our privilege to award a FREE Fall Swim Session as well as a 2-week Progress Builder Swim Camp. Melissa can’t stop raving about the skills her children have gained through their lessons at Foss Swim School, so we are delighted to pass on the opportunity to not only one, but two of our readers.

Our thanks go to Surf Sweets who provided tasty treats throughout our entire playground tour. What a relief to be able to provide gummy sweets that kids love, without having to worry about artificial colors, high-fructose corn syrup, or contamination from common food allergens. Thanks to Surf Sweets, we had kid-friendly as well as kid-safe sweets to fuel our playground adventures. Learn more about Surf Sweets in Jennifer’s review.
Finally, please join us in giving a standing ovation to Great Lakes Credit Union, our Official Tour Sponsor; without whom, our summer playdate series would not have been possible. Kirby the Kangaroo had such a fun time meeting all his little friends on tour!

Thanks to everyone who came out to rock the playground with us!
Disclosure: Sponsors were given promotional consideration in exchange for monetary or in-kind support of our summer event series. If you are interested in promoting your business through Little Lake County events, send your inquiry to littlelakecounty[at]gmail[dot]com.
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