Above / New plaza features Wagner Family Pavilion, splash pad, storybook playground and more at 95th Street Community Plaza, just south of the 95th Street Library.
Families looking for a place to cool off and have fun in this hot summer weather soon will have a new place to go. The Naperville Park District received a license this week to open the splash pad at the 95th Street Community Plaza. Beginning Thursday, July 9, the splash pad will be available for public use, along with the entire plaza. This colorful new destination features a storybook-themed playground, the District’s first splash pad, restrooms, Wagner Family Pavilion and lawn, shaded seating areas, pathways and landscaping.
The Park District reminds visitors to the plaza to follow the social distancing guidelines posted at the site. Please note that a maximum of 50 people can be inside the splash pad at any given time. Hours for the splash pad are 9AM to 8PM daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
Ribbon cutting at 4PM Thurs., July 16
The Park District will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the 95th Street Community Plaza at 4PM on Thursday, July 16. The new plaza is located just south of the 95th Street Library on Cedar Glade Drive.
“The plaza is even more beautiful than we imagined it would be,” said Executive Director Ray McGury. “We can’t wait for people to see it and we know that it will become a favorite destination for the community for many years to come.”
How the new play plaza came to be…
In 2017, Karen Dunford, former manager of the 95th Street Library and now deputy director for Naperville Public Library, envisioned a new community plaza at the north end of Frontier Sports Complex, adjacent to the library and across the street from Neuqua Valley High School’s Birkett Freshman Center. Students would have an outdoor space for studying and socializing, some library activities could be held outdoors, and people of all ages could take a walk, meet a friend, and enjoy a beautiful setting close to many businesses and community assets.
With funding available from the land-cash dedication required by the new residential development at Wagner Farms Subdivision, the Park District was able to take the lead in planning and constructing the new community plaza. Over and above the cash-in-lieu donation, Pulte Homes made a generous donation in collaboration with the Wagner family to name the Wagner Family Pavilion.
Guided by input received from library patrons, high school students and other residents responding online, the Park District added to the concept a splash pad, a performance pavilion and lawn, a storybook-themed playground and restrooms.
The project groundbreaking took place on May 22, 2019, and the first phase of the project was constructed during 2019, with the final phase just completed in summer 2020.
