Chesterton Parks and Recreation

10/09/2026

A huge thank you to the Warren Skip Highwood Memorial Foundation for their generous $5,000 donation to our department! Thanks to their support, we are adding new AED units to our park system. Expanding access to these life-saving devices in our busiest park areas will help ensure a safer environment for everyone in our community. We are deeply grateful for their partnership!

08/21/2026

Congrats to Fish Camp on being the champs of our Summer Slow Pitch Softball League! Well done, gentlemen! 🥎

08/18/2026

Thanks to our friends at Laborers' Local 81, Chesterton Police Department, Chesterton Fire Department and Chesterton Street Department for helping clear the Prairie Duneland Trail this past week! It likely would have taken our small staff the better part of a month to accomplish what this group did in less than a week. We sincerely appreciate their help!

Also, please note that the trail remains closed until further notice. While there has been a ton of progress made in the last week, we still have several hazardous trees that need to be removed along the trail. This will require the assistance of a tree service, nearly all of which are understandably busy tending to slightly more urgent matters at this time. We are hoping to have it open soon and safe for public use soon.

08/13/2026

Our 3.1-mile section of the Prairie Duneland Trail is closed until further notice. It's difficult to estimate when it will be open again. We have trees down everywhere and even sections that appear to be clear likely have hazardous trees in the area. A few other notes:

🔲The splash pad is also closed until further notice due to there being no power.
🔲Many sections of our parks are blocked off due to various tree related issues. We are working to resolve these issues as quickly as we can but it will likely take some time.
🔲We are having portable restrooms delivered to the parks that have restroom closures.

Our staff is working to clean up our parks as fast as we can. We have made a ton of progress the past few days thanks to help from the Chesterton Fire Department, Chesterton Police Department, Chesterton Building Department and Chesterton Street Department.

07/29/2026

The splash pad has reopened! 💦

07/28/2026

Several of our parks were hit hard by yesterday's storms. We have only been able to assess a small portion of the damage to this point. We will continue to evaluate today and prioritize cleanup efforts. Specific areas of our parks will be closed while we work to clean them up and create safer conditions for public usage.

Chesterton Park looks to have been hit the hardest. With that said, the splash pad will be closed until further notice and the Summer Fun Program is canceled today. We will provide additional updates as the cleanup and evaluation efforts progress.

07/01/2026

We've made efforts in recent years to make Coffee Creek Park an attractive, nature based destination. We increased access to the pond by adding the piers and we've been working closely with Lake & Pond Biologists LLC. on improving the aquatic habitat and regular fish stocking. A local angler caught this impressive largemouth bass today, and handed it over to one of our employees for a photo opportunity. It's always nice to see anglers having success in our pond! Please note fishing in the pond is catch and release only. 🎣

Pictured with the bass is Roland McCord, one of our dedicated team members.

06/24/2026

Please note tonight's Moonlight Movie will now be at the Baugher Center located at 100 W. Indiana Ave.

☔️ Rain has moved tonight's movie indoors to the Baugher Center. Join us for "Hoppers" at 8:30 PM, located at 100 W. Indiana Ave., Chesterton. # FREEpopcorn!🍿

06/23/2026

Join our friends at the Westchester Public Library for a Moonlight Movie tomorrow night at Chesterton Park! The Chesterton-Porter Rotary Club will be providing free popcorn! 🍿🎬

Please note that in the event of inclement weather, the movie will be moved to the Baugher Center located at 100 W. Indiana Ave. We will be sure to share any updates.

06/17/2026

The Summer Fun Program at Chesterton Park is canceled today due to the incoming inclement weather. We'll be back the park tomorrow! ☔⛈