Independence Park

It’s a nice park. Several amenities. Nice walking paths. Two main complaints, it’s not a dog park and they don’t enforce leash laws, and they do not shovel the sidewalk along the perimeter of the park — no one does — and it gets treacherous in the winter time. I’d over look the dog thing if would keep the perimeter sidewalk cleared during the winter.

We live a little east of this park, but we come here regularly for various activities (I wrote a separate review for the Farmer’s Market in the summer). This is a great park in a nice friendly neighborhood with some cool architectural features to boot.
I do want to issue a warning to parents: the bathrooms are disgusting. At least the men’s. The upstairs one in the field house never seems to work right, and seems to have been used by people with both vision impairments and severe digestive disorders. I try to discourage my sons from going on trees, but that seems cleaner and more sanitary than the fieldhouse. Last time out, we used the locker room bathroom, which was only marginally better. However, in both cases, the urinals are mounted too high for my kids to use.
This may seem like a small detail to write a review about, but if you have small boys, places for them to go are critical.
Other than that, it is of course a great park with an involved neighborhood that sponsors all sorts of great activities in the park, including a 4^th of July Parade. I’m so glad to live near it.

This review is for the pool only. I came here during open swim one weekday afternoon. I was surprised to see how small the pool actually was — it’s definitely more of a lap pool. I didn’t feel like swimming laps, but most others did, so I always felt like I was in the way. Also, the pool was way chlorinated. My skin was left feeling like all the moisture was sucked completely out of it.
I wasn’t impressed with the locker room area either. It was small, with only two bathroom stalls. It didn’t look very clean either.
It’s a park district pool, that I used for free, so I can’t complain too much. Next time, I’ll try another pool though.

I absolutely love this park and am here with my dog 2 – 4 times per day. There are always good people from the neighborhood around with their dogs. The bi-​weekly farmer’s market during the summer is great, albeit a little expensive. Movies in the park were way better when they were more frequent, but these things happen.
I have gone to lap swim a few times and the facility is nice.
Where did the hot dog stand go? Used to be here every summer.

We were in the area and decided to stop by. The park has benches around the park so it’s easy to keep track of your child. However, there are no gates or fences to block off the section.
This park earns a three– star simply because the equipment is rather low-​lying so it wasn’t that challenging/​interesting for my older child at 5. Once children his age showed up, it was the kids that made it interesting. There was an infant/​early toddler section that would be great for little ones.
There are regular swings and bucket swings as well as a small sand pit that must fill up quickly on the weekends.
It also has a grassy section for running around. It seems very dog friendly as long as they’re on a leash. Yeah for the pooches!
As a parent, really the best part is Foodstuffs is right across the street. Ohhh. Foodstuffs.

Careful at night — shady people tend to «group» or «gang» up. I think the cops clear the park out late from time to time. Doesn’t really stop them.
Movies in the Park in summer — sweet, I can walk there
Open space — lots of it, and it’s pretty. Too bad a storm a few years ago wiped out about half of the trees, big and small, but the open space is nice. Could probably even fly a kite.
Dog friendly — watch for off leash morons. There are leash laws in Chicago. I had a dog slam in to my dog while we stopped for a water break. Idiots
Hot dog stand in summer — an actual stand, not just a bunch of guys hanging out. Good hot dogs, give em a try.
Sports games, I think I have seen baseball, softball, and soccer.

I like this park so much, not just because it’s my neighborhood park, but because it’s huge, it’s clean and they have so many activities. It’s also surrounded by a nice quiet neigborhood in Old Irving Park.
I love checking out the farmers market during the summer months and checking out Movies in the Park.
The only thing that’s missing from this park is a doggie park. That would make it just perfect.

I give this park a thumbs up for their swimming program. My child has also taken dodge ball, art and tumbling here. It is a small park environment and small close knit community. If you live in the neighborhood you will see people you know here. I give it 4 stars because the down side is the playground could stand to be improved it is older than old. Also in the winter the heat inside is at times unbearable! My child quit dodge ball and tumbling because he simply could not take the heat. But for swimming he is okay with the heat because of the pool water being kinda cold. Outside is also a running track and tennis courts. There is also a resident program here for down syndrome teens and adults. I do not know much about this program. I have also heard really good things about the baseball program here but we have not checked that out yet.

Yes, Love this park! Spend a lot of time here with my pooches when I want to do a little work and maybe run into some other fun dog people. I understand there is a nice little doggy group that meets early mornings here as well.

Independence Park is a little spot of heaven just two blocks from my apartment. My dog Jack thinks so too.
The huge field is full of his friends every morning for him to play with, or to just chase his soccer ball or his chew toy around with me after work.
The gym and pool in the field house are available to use for a fee of less than $ 30 a quarter, or just $ 2 a day. Absolutely perfect if you want nothing to do with the gym scene. Although if you live in Old Irving, I can’t imagine why you’d want to go to someplace like Cheetah or LPAC.
The best part of Indy, however, is the Boy Scout Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser in April, the GIPNA Pancake Breakfast in August, and of course, the every-​other-​week Farmer’s Market.
I have never lived in such a tight knit neighborhood since moving to Chicago where everyone seems to know each other and say hi. I can’t help but think Independence Park has a bit to do with that.

My favorite park. I use it mostly to run and play Frisbee. I also work out in the tiny gym they have in the field house. This place really enhances the whole neighborhood. It includes playground, 4 tennis courts, 2 baseball diamonds, a concrete fountain area for kids to play in, lots of great trees to climb (that’s where you’ll find me), a field house with indoor pool, basketball court, a big party room, locker rooms and like I said a tiny gym. The coolest thing is that they have a projector and will play movies in the park every once in a while but even better they use that same projector to show all Bears night games at the park so the whole community can come together and watch the game outside picnic style. The daytime crowd is usually moms and kids and sometimes some cuties on break from the Pivot Point beauty school next door. I love this park, I feel it makes my neighborhood very special.

This park is probably on my top list of places to go just to hang get some sun and relax or to come and kick around the soccer ball. Great open space with a kid park and two diamonds to play on. Parking can be a bit difficult to do around the park but the lot is usually open but it’s perfect to ride your bike there or hop on the Irving park bus. probably the only draw back to this place is the lack of an outdoor pool and there indoor pool is pretty tiny. But it gets the job done and I usually go here during the weekend or sometime during the week for adult swim. Also not to many people turn out for it either. Come and enjoy yourself at this park especially for movie in the park. Careful though there are a lot of rambunctious kids running around.

I love Indy! And I love it for many reasons, but mostly for the SPORTS!!!
For all you parents who are sick and tired of seeing your neighbors trying to mold their kid into an MLB pitcher at age 8… For all you AYSO parents who spend every Saturday trying to get their kids to 3 different games at three different parks… For all you parents who just think that kids sports have become way too competetive… And… For all you parents who just want to get your kid oustide and away from the XBox… INDEPENDENCE PARK IS FOR YOU!
Indy has Non-​Competetive Sports! At least there’s no official ranking. I think a better term would be «Laid Back, Reasonably Competeteive Sports»! Yes, they all get trophies. Yes, all the trophies say the same thing. But everyone keeps score. Everyone knows which team came in first in the season and it’s announced at the pizza party. In general, no one takes things too seriously. Win or lose, the kids have fun.
The park offers Spring/​Summer Baseball, Fall Soccer and Winter Basketball for kids from about 5 to 18 (depending on the sport). Prices are reasonable ($ 50 to $ 60) and the kids get a T-​shirt and shorts/​pants (and socks for soccer). The seasons are only a few months long with practices only 1x a week (2x at the most, and that’s only if you have the rare gung-​ho coach). Be prepared for one game a week, and never ever ever on a Saturday.
OH — and if your kid has never played before, that’s okay, no matter what age he or she is. The leagues are for teaching and playing.