Emily Park - Skokie, IL

© (2013) Photographs by Vicki Polin
Music by Five For Fighting - "100 years to live"

I took a stroll through Emily Park in Skokie. This was a very special place for me growing up. Every time I go back here I'm totally amazed at how much it's changed since I went to day camp here several years ago. 

The lagoon used to be filled with snails and leaches. I remember when learning how to row a boat our camp counselors warned us not to fall in. Due to the number of leaches in the water. 

I also couldn't help thinking about the secret path we would take from Oakton Bowl across the bridge of the railroad tracks to get to the park when I was in Jr. High. So many memories flood my mind each time I come here.

Today the wildlife is something I never expected to see in Skokie. Who would have ever think there would be geese living at Emily Park, let alone deer.

Emily Park (Skokie, IL)

© (2012) Photographs by Vicki Polin
Music by Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

When I was in grade school I went to camp at Emily Park (which is now known as Emily Oaks Nature Center). I have so many found memories of my time here. One includes learning to row a boat, or shoot an arrow with a bow. I also learned the words to the song "both sides now" when I was around 7 or 8. We were always told not to go swimming in the lagoon since it was packed with leaches.

 Emily Park also had one of those secret paths only kids who grew up in Skokie knew about. We would cut over the train tracks to go to Oakton Bowl or Oakton Park.

I'm so amazed at how different this park is now. It used to be an open field with three campfire rings. Now it's like a jungle. The wildlife is unreal. It's hard to believe this is the same park that I wandered in back in the 1960s and 70s.