Prairie District Park — Attraction in Chicago

We helped friends set up a Sunday morning kids’ birthday party at Prairie District Park, a block north of Cermak, two blocks east of Michigan, kitty-corner from Suntrust Basketball Arena.

It’s a 14000-square-foot fenced park. Most of it is a separately fenced kids play area with several 4-seat tables, encircled by a bricked walkway with more 4-seat tables, separate from a smaller fenced dog-park. The two “inner” parks each have their own gates, so only the walkway has a gate directly out to the street. We got there about 9am, too late for the limited street-parking on the front and side of the park, and we found parking nearby around the neighborhood.

There’s a rumor of a Starbucks in the hotel across the street, but we brought our own cold-brew. Our dozen 5 and 6-year-olds played for hours on the swings and climbers and slides, and screamed on the “Dad you’re making it too fast” spin-it-yourself child merry-go-round carousel. They all dressed for the fountain splash-pad! Refreshing during a 90° heat-wave! A number of us enjoyed watching the dogs “next door” through the fence, and in fact the dogs were all friendly and quiet!

A lovely morning in a fun park in a friendly...

This park is awesome! There's a dog park on one side, which has artificial grass & a drinking bowl/fountain, so the pups can hydrate & play.

There's also a neat playground, physically separated from the dog park. There's slides, a mini obstacle course & playground equipment, but they also have a fun quasi-splash pad with water sprays & towers. The kids love being able to play in the water if it's hot, or play on the other equipment if it's cooler outside.

There's also several tables with seating: two inside the children's playground section, and a few in the gap/walkway between the dog park & the playground. However, the dog park only has a...

This is a local park for me, not sure if it's public or private but it seemed as if when my children come to play the security come and close the park down. It's 7:45pm. How long has this park been closing this early? I work/stay nearby and see dogs and small children with their families ( hate to be this person but they are typically white and of course mixed families as well). I just don't like the the sometimes I close when you come energy. I really wanted my 6 year old nephew to run his little legs tired but I guess we'll have to walk down further. I just hope he wasn't...