Mayor Emanuel and the Chicago Park District today announced that over 21,000 campers were enrolled in traditional day camp programs at parks across the city this summer. Enrollment was up 3% from the 2016 season. Today marked the last day of traditional day camps, with fall programming beginning in early September.

“Summer day camp is a great place for kids across Chicago to enjoy recreational and artistic activities, take field trips to new parts of the city and learn new skills,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Chicago Park District has provided residents and families with a huge variety of offerings at an affordable price.”

Chicago Park District offers traditional summer day camp for children 6-12 years of age for 6 hours a day for 6 weeks.  Programming included swimming, cooking classes, dance camps, gymnastics, fishing and more. In addition to recreational activities in the parks, campers spent time reading, learning and enhancing their creative and intellectual skills.

“The Chicago Park District offers a menu of camps at parks throughout the city to ensure that our young park goers keep active, engaged and safe this summer,” said Chicago Park District Superintendent and CEO Michael P. Kelly. “This summer, our campers explored and enjoyed their neighborhoods through play.”

In total, over 48,000 campers have enrolled in all types of camp. This is an increase of over 4 percent from 2016. No child was turned away due to inability to pay.

Registration for fall programming launches next week. Online registration for parks located west of California Avenue will begin registration on August 7, and parks located east of California Avenue will begin registration on August 8. In-person registration begins either August 12 or August 14, depending on the park.  Fall programs run from the week of September 11 to the week of December 4.

This year’s theme for summer camp was “heroes,” where students celebrated local heroes and developed their own superheroes. This year’s Rahm’s Readers Summer Learning Challenge with Chicago Public Libraries also has a super hero theme. Rahm’s Readers, which takes place citywide in all 80 libraries, challenges students to read at least 20 minutes a day and engages them in learning and brain-stimulating activities.

In celebration of the last day of camp, Mayor Emanuel attended the final performance at Ailey Camp at Douglas Park. The program is for campers ages 11-14 and includes West African, jazz and ballet dance classes, as well as workshops in leadership and communication. Recently at Douglas Park, the Chicago Park District celebrated the opening of a new playground featuring a climbing tower, overhead bars and jig jag climbers.

###