The Friends of Lovelace Park are working to keep Lovelace AMAZING!
Join us for Lovelace Friends work days
We meet in the park on Saturdays at 9:30 according to the schedule below and work for around two hours, or however long anyone can and wants to stay. Everyone is welcome! Current schedule:
Major work was done in the Pollinator Garden on the morning of May 22nd. Stay tuned- info on our next work day will be posted here.
If you haven’t joined us before, things go much more quickly if the city waiver forms are filled out and ready to go:
Free Barbless Fishing Hooks- while supplies last!
Did you know that Barbless Hooks are required when you fish at Lovelace? But no worries, Friends of Lovelace have you covered. Just drop us a note through the website contact form and we’ll make sure to get them to you. Limit two hooks per request.
Mission Accomplished- the playground is ready for the park’s littlest visitors!
Friends of Lovelace extend a huge Thank You to everyone who helped get the playground ready for this summer!
On Saturday, April 24th, eight ETHS students and as many Friends of Lovelace members worked together to prepare the playgrounds for the upcoming season.
A massive number of weeds were removed and will be picked up by the city. Three truckloads of wood chips were spread, including in the depressions beneath the big kids swings which will prevent puddles in those areas after rainfall. Time to play!
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has helped with mulching this year!
Volunteers worked hard on April 3rd, 10th, 15th, 27th, and May 2nd to protect and nourish our Lovelace trees. The trees and all the visitors who enjoy them are grateful!
The Native Plant Pollinator Garden Project
This Friends of Lovelace project has already become a stunning success in just one year thanks to all the hard work of our volunteer community. The garden was ablaze with color and abuzz with pollinators last summer. We even attracted some new visitors!
The seedheads and grasses continued to provide for wildlife through the winter as well. These areas provide shelter for rabbits and Cardinals and Blue Jays eat the Echinacea seeds all winter when foraging is challenging. In the spring, Goldfinches are drawn here as well as they migrate through. 
In 2021 we will be expanding the garden and tweaking the plantings to ensure that all our pollinator plants are native to the area.
Our first work in the pollinator garden in 2021 will be on May 22. Save the date!
The Lovelace Meadow Project
Our efforts to create a more natural, unmowed section of the park continue despite bureaucratic hurdles.
The area north of the sledding hill (colloquially referred to as ‘The Swamp’ by locals) consistently overflows onto the paved path and provides a view only of muddy grooves carved into the ground by the City of Evanston mowers.
This area would be well served by water-thirsty native plants that would mitigate the flooding and provide habitat for birds and pollinators alike. We are convinced that common sense will prevail and that the Friends of Lovelace will soon be sowing native flower seeds in this unused area of our jewel of a park!
Share your photos with the Lovelace Park community!
Our fabulous park with its open spaces and natural beauty provides so many opportunities for the photographer in all of us. If you take a pic while you’re there, we’d love to see it. Email pics to LovelacePark at outlook dot com and we’ll display them in our Photo Gallery.
Our Mission Statement
We are a group of neighbors living near and enjoying this wonderful recreational resource. We are committed to enhancing the park and assisting the City’s Maintenance Crew by volunteering for the following tasks:
- Mulching the trees correctly. Click here for a diagram.
- Working with City Crew when planting new trees to select the proper spots (not in the sledding area).
- Establishing a pollinator garden to attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.
- Collaborating with other organizations in collecting litter and debris.
- Offering our services when needed or requested by City Crews.