New Rolling Meadows playground swings into action
For kids visiting Florey Park, green and yellow are the colors to be seen in.
The bright new playground opened there last week and has been "jam-packed ever since," says Amy Charlesworth, Rolling Meadows Park District director.
Neighbors had waited all summer long. Completion originally was scheduled for July, but a wet spring and shipping delays stalled the project. "We lost weeks at a time because of the rain," Charlesworth says.
The playground was designed for the littlest toddlers to junior high-age kids, with four slides, swings, ropes, a climbing wall and several unique features like a "wave wall," a clock that teaches Braille, word wheels and canopies for shade.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the official opening on Saturday, but the neighborhood kids didn't wait. As soon as the fences came down a few days before that, they were there.
The area still is called Campbell Park by some, though it was renamed a few years ago for longtime parks commissioner Roger Florey, who died of cancer. His wife, Sharon, attended the ceremony.
Parks commissioner Bill Cooley has three young children and lives near the park. "We've been here every day since it opened," he said, adding that even he has tried all the slides.
20-year harvest: Rolling Meadows-based Harvest Bible Chapel is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.
A special worship service Sunday included a video made for the occasion, said Sherrie Smith, director of communications. "It was a quick look at some of the key people over the 20 years, guest speakers we've had, and how the church has grown from when we first met in Rolling Meadows High School," she said.
In 1988, 18 people started meeting there with founding Senior Pastor James MacDonald. Seven growth-filled years later, the church bought a vacant home-store building on Rohlwing Road and renovated it.
Today, about 10,000 people attend services each week there and at chapels in Elgin, Niles and Crystal Lake.
The video can be seen on the church's Web site, harvestbiblechapel.org.
• Colleen Thomas' column appears Fridays. She welcomes your news about community events and people. Call (847) 427-4591, or e-mail her at cthomas@dailyherald.com.