Lockwood Park — Attraction in Rockford Township

On May 19, 2023 I reserved a birthday party at Lockwood- cookhouse to be held on September 17, 2023 from 12:00-4:00pm. I received a confirmation regarding the party via email and also had confirmed the party over the phone. I paid $260 for the reservation and have the receipt. When it came to the day of the party I arrived at the reserved time. Walked ALL the way from the main parking lot with food, decorations and everything I needed for the party to the cookhouse building. By this time I got it he building its 12:15. When I tried opening all of the doors to the cookhouse building they were LOCKED. I called Lockwood multiple times and they didn’t answer. Now I’m starting to panic because the guests for the party are going to arrive at 1:00. I thought I would give the staff a few minutes to return my call. They didn’t. So I walked back to the main building to see if someone was there but the doors to that building were also locked so now at this time it’s around 12:30. I have all of the party stuff outside of the cookhouse building. Still waiting.. to get the cookhouse building open to set up the party. I called the park district a few times and of course they didn’t answer. So, now it’s close to 12:40. I couldn’t call all 40 guests to tell them about the situation so we could move the party elsewhere because it’s too late. So I had to have a special milestone birthday party outside on the picnic tables; Where the ground and tables were still wet from the rain that morning. There were leftover cupcakes and frosting smeared all over the picnic tables and old decorations, streamers on the ground from the party that was there the day before. I’m very disappointed in staff at Lockwood and park district. I did end up getting a refund but I’ll never forget how it felt to have 40 people sit on nasty picnic tables for a birthday party that meant so much to my mom. It should’ve been a special day but that was ruined. Please do better for the next people who want to have a party at...

My family loved this park so much I am afraid the park district will close or privatize it. This park includes a small farm with rabbits, ducks, chickens, pigs, goats, ponies, llama, and horses. You can make arrangements to board a horse at this park. There are horeseriding lessons, trail rides, seasonal pony ring rides, as well as seasonal events. In the fall your family can go on a wagon ride, enjoy Smores, pick pumpkins and go through a child sized corn maize all for an affordable price. Many events have reduced price tickets on Groupon. There is a large cow statue and a small pig statue my kids love to take pictures by. Their are two playgrounds. One is small but if you cross the covered bridge you can find a much larger one. There is a small pavilion and a large pavilion. The park could use some TLC but is still a wonderful place for families. I was there once in the evening and was amazed at the amount of families who walk to the park to spend time together. You could literally feel the happiness come...

This is one of the most unorganized, mismanaged facilities I have ever had dealings with. I tried volunteering last year and could not get anyone to respond to my calls. So I drove out there. I spoke with the volunteer coordinator. She gave me all the info she had on the halters program. She also told me she would be calling me to set up training. Never happened. Tried contacting her and got no response. Weeks later she sends me a message telling me she has sceduled me to work in an area I told her I was not at all interested in volunteering in, with NO training, on one of their busiest days of the year. I declined. Recently, I tried to contact them regarding a Native American drum making class they had advertised. Once again , absolutely no response. I even called the RPD main office and she tried to contact them; nothing. I left a message. No one ever called me. They really need to get it...