The Jubilee Site Is Finally a Park. What's Open This Winter, and What Waits Until 2027

At 71st Street and Woodridge Drive, the field that hosted carnival rides and a beer tent in June now has a striped parking lot, two pickleball courts, a basketball and futsal court, and a tall playground. The Woodridge Park District set Saturday, October 31, 2026 as the official opening of Jubilee Point Park. It scheduled a ribbon-cutting from 10 a.m. to noon and promised a commemorative gift to the first 100 families.

The opening came about a year later than first planned, so the park arrives just as the outdoor season ends. The pieces that work best in November are the old sled hill, the new paths and the courts. The picnic pavilion and community garden plots open in 2027. The native prairie around them is on a longer clock still.

The oldest feature is the one built for November

Woodridge knew this ground as Town Centre, and the District's park listing still notes that it was once called that. The sled hill was already there before construction started. On the District's project page, the hill is labeled Phase 1 and marked complete. The new construction is Phase 2.

The hill is open during daylight hours when conditions allow, and the District has posted rules for it.

• Sledding only on the east and west slopes
• Walk back up on the marked trail on the north side
• No more than two people per sled
• No building berms, jumps or ramps
• No skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing or motorized vehicles
• No staff supervision; parents and guardians are responsible for their children

The listing also covers smaller things that matter on a cold Saturday. There's a drinking fountain and bike racks, and the portajohn is marked seasonal.

The rest of what the District listed for the October 31 opening is the new hard-surface build. That includes the playground, the two pickleball courts, the multi-sport court for basketball and futsal, baggo courts, ping pong tables, an open play lawn and the walking and biking trails. The trails are the biggest change in how the site connects to the rest of town. The District describes several looped routes, with links to nearby neighborhoods, the Village's municipal complex and Jefferson Junior High School. A 2024 design change added a loop with connections to 71st Street and the Village campus. It also moved paths and parking to protect existing trees and natural areas.

A year late, and the timeline shows why

The opening date moved several times. Each move came from a specific cause, and the District's project updates page recorded every one:

1. June 2024: The plan was to bid the project that September, start construction that fall and finish in early summer 2025.
2. January 2025: The Park Board approved a $3,534,454 construction contract with Schwartz Construction Group. In June 2023, the District had estimated this phase at $2.8 million.
3. June 4, 2025: A ceremonial groundbreaking at Woodridge Drive and 71st Street, with State Senators John Curran and Rachel Ventura attending. Heavy equipment moved in after the 40th annual Woodridge Jubilee.
4. December 2025: The District said a longer-than-expected local permit review had delayed the start by four months, from February to June 2025. Winter would push the work into 2026, and the new target was summer 2026.
5. August 27, 2026: A wetter-than-normal summer slowed the work. Paving, striping, plantings, utility start-up and burying the overhead lines were still unfinished, and the tentative opening was September.
6. September 25, 2026: The District set the opening for October 31.

Because of that schedule, the opening falls in the season when its warm-weather features matter least. The table shows what that means for the next year.

Gardeners who rented plots on the old site will find a different setup. A 2024 design change gave the relocated plots paved parking, fixed water sources, a fenced enclosure and more rental plots than before. According to the District's garden plot page, the Jubilee Point plots will open in 2027, with registration details still to come.

The prairie runs on its own three-to-five-year clock

The slowest part of the park was never part of the construction contract. In February 2024, Davey Tree Expert Company crews began clearing buckthorn, bush honeysuckle, white mulberry and multiflora rose from the property's natural areas. The District planned native seeding for late May 2024 and said the new plantings would need three to five years to fully establish. On that timeline, the open woodland and prairie still have more growing seasons ahead before they look finished.

On Arbor Day 2024, volunteers from Jefferson Jr. High School, Park District staff and The Davey Tree Expert Co. planted the first 150 native trees and shrubs. Two small grants paid for most of that work: $3,000 from Trees Forever and $2,000 from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. More tree planting is scheduled in phases over several years.

Before the clearing started, the District asked outside experts to review the plan. One of them, Stephanie Adams of The Morton Arboretum, told the District what the early years would look like:

"While the initial stages of the project will appear startling, the future the area will be a highly valuable and a regularly utilized natural area enjoyed by the community."

The District posted that letter and others from The Conservation Foundation, Great Lakes Urban Forestry Management and the University of Illinois on its project page. Ongoing upkeep under the District's site plan includes controlling invasive species, prescribed fire and tree inspections.

Why this field stays a field

The long ownership history explains why the District could take its time. According to the District's natural area plan, the land was farmed for corn, hay and dairy cattle until Community High School District 99 bought it in 1966. The Park District leased it for recreation starting in 1971. The Village bought it from District 99 in 2008. A 2012 agreement gave the Park District half ownership, and a 2023 amendment gave it the rest.

That last step was approved in May 2023. The Park District agreed to pay $7.1 million, half the original purchase price, over 20 years for the Village's share. Both boards approved terms that keep the property as parks and public grounds permanently. Grants cover part of the development cost, including a $600,000 IDNR OSLAD grant and a $225,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. By March 2024, the District reported $880,000 in grants secured for the park.

The name came after the purchase. In October 2023, the Park Board picked Jubilee Point Park to honor the festival's roughly 40 years on the property. The name also keeps "Jubilee Site," which the District notes residents commonly used for the land, and marks it as a focal point of the Town Centre area. Hitchcock Design Group handled design, engineering and construction observation for the new phase.

In the District's grand opening announcement, Executive Director Jenny Knitter described the goal as preserving "this important space for recreation while ensuring connection to surrounding parks and public spaces in the heart of Woodridge."

The Jubilee already held its first festival here during construction

The Woodridge Jubilee ran June 18 to 21, 2026, at Jubilee Point Park. The schedule had bingo, a fishing derby, the ticketed Jubilee Ale Trail and bags tournament, and Saturday night fireworks at 10:30. It was held while the park was still under construction. The new south parking lot was closed as an active work site. Festival-goers who parked at Jefferson Junior High were sent along the Janes Avenue and Center Drive sidewalks, because standing water covered the trail between the school and the festival grounds.

The next Jubilee should be the first one with that lot and the finished paths in place. The District hasn't announced dates for it yet. The 2022 master plan calls for keeping open space for the Jubilee and other events. It also shows longer-range ideas, including a boardwalk, more pathways, possible extra parking and a nine-hole disc golf course marked "TBD." None of these has a construction schedule. For now, the park has 15 developed acres, two courts, a playground and a sled hill ready for the first snow.

At Wenzel Select Properties, we follow projects like Jubilee Point Park because a new park changes daily routines on the blocks around it, like the walk to the Village campus or a Saturday at the playground. If you'd like to talk about how changes near 71st Street and Woodridge Drive affect your own plans, request a personalized consultation with our team.