Thanks in part to a relatively mild winter, the synthetic turf athletic fields at Percy Julian and Gwendolyn Brooks middle schools in Oak Park already have been put to good use by both students and residents.
A grand opening will be held on Saturday, April 9 to celebrate the all-weather fields. The festivities will kick off at Julian Middle School, 416 S. Ridgeland Ave., with a 9 a.m. ribbon cutting followed by Oak Park AYSO soccer games. A 10:30 a.m. ribbon cutting will be held at Brooks Middle School, 325 S. Kenilworth Ave., followed by Oak Park Youth Baseball/Softball games.
Saturday’s gathering will also serve as an opportunity to recognize the community collaboration funded by a partnership between the Park District of Oak Park and Oak Park Elementary School District 97, along with financial contributions from the Good Heart/Work Smart Foundation ($90,000), Chicago Edge Soccer Club ($25,000), AYSO ($125,000) and Oak Park Youth Baseball/Softball ($10,000), which ensured the plan for a pair of all-weather fields came to fruition.
“[District 97 Superintendent] Dr. [Al] Roberts and I have always looked at ways to collaborate and make the best decisions for taxpayers,” said Jan Arnold, Park District of Oak Park executive director. “We had two government entities, three youth sports community partners and a private foundation work together to make these all-weather fields a reality.
“The kids in the school system are already getting great use of the fields. It’s also nice to see so many families and residents enjoying the fields through a variety of activities.”
Based largely on a 2013 athletic fields study, the park district believed it would in the best interests of the community to have three synthetic-turf athletic fields.
Initially, the park district targeted Stevenson Park as the third park. Washington Irving Elementary School and Ridgeland Common previously had synthetic turf fields installed.
The turf at Irving School and Ridgeland Common is composed of crumb rubber, whereas the turf at Julian and Brooks is Nike Grind (partially ground up tennis sole shoes).
After the Stevenson Park suggestion was nixed by the village due to concerns about installing artificial turf above a water reservoir, the park district proposed Julian as an alternate site.
D97 board members welcomed the offer but expressed a need to have a synthetic turf field installed at Brooks as well to address the issue of equity.
“We knew that having a synthetic turf field at Brooks would cost another $550,000,” Arnold said. “That’s when Peter Traczyk [the former D97 board member who died in 2015] and I started calling sports groups to ask for help funding these fields. I thought we would get some money from our community partners, but I didn’t think we would be able to get the full amount of money that was needed.
“[Good Heart/Work Smart Foundation founders] Mary Jo and Stephen Schuler were very generous with a contribution that helped us cross the finish line.”