West Ridge Nature Park Celebrates a Decade of Growth

As summer falls in the Windy City, West Ridge Nature Park — nestled between West Peterson and Foster Avenue — heralded the season with a 10th anniversary celebration. The three-day festival, held from Sept. 26-28, featured live music and engaging activities for community members to welcome the new season while enjoying a scenic fall background. 

“This event highlights so much of the park,” volunteer and publicist for West Ridge Nature Park Lou Berkman said. “It highlights the fact that this space was completely replanted 10 years ago, so it’s created an entire ecosystem in just 10 years. They scraped everything down and started all over again.”

Founded in 2015 in the northwest corner of Rosehill Cemetery, the park has undergone several ecological enhancements, including adding trails, boardwalks, fishing access and over 500 native trees. It’s now home to over 1,600 species of plants and animals and, with no paid staff, is maintained by a network of volunteers, according to their website.

“Volunteering is just the perfect way to make sure the next generation of Chicagoans inherit a lot of love and care for this really cool city,” volunteer Oscar Joyo said. “Through the work that we do, you’d hope that people start to appreciate nature more and see it as a getaway from all of the commotion.” 

On opening day, the park offered a guided historical nature walk where participants learned about the history of the park and facts about the wildlife that populates it. Visitors also had the opportunity to partake in forest bathing, which took a dive into nature and connected attendees with the environment through observing, touching and listening. 

West Ridge also invited guest speakers such as General Superintendent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, current Alderman Andre Vasques (40th) and former Alderman Partrick O’Conner (40th). The opening day concluded with a bat monitoring session, where participants observed the park’s bat population and learned about the anatomy and natural habitat. 

Attendees had the opportunity to hear a jam session from Old Town Music Sept. 27, take in an early morning bird walk to discover more about native Chicago bird species and wind down from the exciting day with a storytime.

On closing day, West Ridge held a final clinic on the calm pond found at the heart of the park.

A children’s bird walk and an arts and crafts session allowed young families to actively engage with their surroundings and let their creativity flow. 

But for many of the volunteers, the meaning came from the community.

“It’s been great to be part of a community,” volunteer Veronica Jurek said. “Chicago has always been so good to me and I want to do as much as I can to give back.”

Although the event was only three days, volunteers emphasized that the park is always there for those who may need it. 

“What it means to me, the advisory council and all the volunteers that have been involved in this, is that this is a recognition of how important this park is to the community,” Robinson said. “This is an oasis for so many people — people come to play, walk, meditate or just read to calm down. We want more people to be aware of that, so that’s why we’re doing this.”