Straz boathouse and expanded parking are in Lake Katherine’s future

By Jeff Vorva

Lake Katherine had a huge recovery year in 2022 and that is paving the way for some big plans for the future.

Lake Katherine Director Gareth Blakesley gave the Palos Heights City Council an update on the state of the facility on Feb. 21 and the numbers from 2022 showed a recovery after the slow going caused by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“We believe this is one of our most successful years at Lake Katherine,” he said. “It was also one of those years where we were able to have $85,000 in donations and that’s when a non-profit starts to fulfill its mission of fundraising and doing the things were supposed to be doing.

“The nice thing about coming out of such a successful year is that now it allows us to plan into the future. That’s a great kind of place to be in.”

About those future plans?

At the top of the list are a new boat house area and expanded parking.

The boathouse and boardwalk area will be named after Mayor Bob Straz and will class up what has lately been a bare-bones area for boats.

“We want to make this a proper boat area and he want to honor our Mayor Straz and beautify the area and make it a much more usable space,” Blakesley said. “Right now, we basically have a muddy slipway and we have a wooden box where we keep our stuff. And it’s really not a practical use of things. This will upgrade the area and make it beautiful and be wonderful.”

Parking is usually at a premium at Lake Katherine and expansion would be welcomed, Blakesley said.

“It’s a huge kind of thing and we’re hoping it will be shovel-ready in 2024,” he said. “It’s really going to help benefit Lake Katherine in a number of different ways. It’s going to be exciting for Lake Katherine moving forward. It will also help us as we try to upgrade our festival grounds.”

Some of the other things that happened in 2022 that made the director happy included a resurgence of volunteers – from 30 in 2021 to 60 last year. He said that dedications to late loved ones are up to 425 throughout the park. He said the school program has swelled to 4,000 children coming to the park again and senior citizen programs are taking off. Canoe and kayak rentals hit the 3,200 mark.

Blakesley also said there was plenty of restoration work done, including planting 58 trees, 32 shrubs and 225 native perennial plants. The facility sold 2,000 native plants to the public.

Lake Katherine Board of Directors Chair Terry Horvath gave an overview of the park’s long history but also looked into the future of her group.

“We currently have nine members on our board,” she said. “In our bylaws, we have a potential for 13. We are looking for new board members. We have two potentials we are looking at right now and if you know of anybody who is interested, please let me know.”