Holiday Guide: Enjoy Outdoor Fun

Lace up your skates and hit the rink, or dig out your sled and head to the hills this winter. The Vernon Hills Park District offers several locations to enjoy outdoor ice skating.

• Evergreen Lake at Deerpath Park, adjacent to the softball field
• Willow Lake at Deerpath Park, north of the Cherokee Road entrance
• Grosse Pointe Pond, at Grosse Pointe Boulevard and Hunter Court in Grosse Pointe Park
• Century Park North, on the basketball court near the sled hill in Century Park. This ice rink will be lighted until 9:00 pm daily.

To view a map of these locations check out this website.

Skating at these Vernon Hills locations is only allowed when the green flag is flying at the rink or pond. If there is no flag, no skating is permitted. There are no restroom or warming facilities at the lakes or ponds.

Skating IS NOT permitted on Big Bear or Little Bear Lakes in Vernon Hills.

There is also a sled hill located at the north end of Century Park on Indianwood Drive. Sledding is permitted when snow is considered by the District to be deep enough. Check the posted sign at the sled hill to see if sledding is permitted on any given day.

The Libertyville Parks and Recreation Department has three ice skating areas open.

• Adler Park, 1500 N. Milwaukee Ave., offering recreation ice skating, lights and a warming shelter
• Bolander Park, 625 W. Winchester Rd., a full-sized hockey rink and recreational ice rink
• Nicholas-Dowden Park, 920 Crane Blvd., which offers both recreational skating and hockey
• Butler Lake Park, 810 Lake St.

Also, two forest preserves near Libertyville offer skating:

• Old School Forest Preserve, St. Mary's Road , south of Rte. 176
• Independence Grove Forest Preserve, Rte. 137, east of Rte. 21.

Nearby in Grayslake the Park District offers four ice skating areas:

• Molly's Pond in the Haryan Farms subdivision
• Jones Island Park, Harvey St. and Allegheny Rd.
• Chesapeake Landing in Chesapeake Farms
• Cambridge Park in the College Trail subdivision.