Going back to Perry Farm

BRADLEY – More than a year ago, then interim executive director John Wilson said Bourbonnais Township Park District residents had something special in Perry Farm Park.

The 25 northeastern acres of Perry Farm Park that are inside Kennedy Drive, Perry Street and the main park drive have been designated as the Durham-Perry Farmstead, according to the BTPD website.

Not only does Perry Farm feature the farm homestead, it also includes prairie land, as well as the Indian caves where Bourbonnais Creek flows into the Kankakee River.

There is also the Exploration Station, a place for children to become creative, which is undergoing renovation and updating.

“When you have something like this, it is your story,” Wilson said during the February 2024 meeting. “Perry Farm is a diamond in the rough. We want to make Perry Farm a destination point.”

It was then that the commissioners approved a $90,000 contract with Mixdesign, a Hobart, Indiana-based company, to create a master plan for the 169-acre park.

The park district split the cost with the village of Bradley, which annexed the park into the village’s limits. BTPD is paying its portion with state grant money.

The village’s money came from business taxing district funds.

Recent Mixdesign projects include Fair Oaks Farms Dairy Adventure in Indiana and the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Lane.

Agriculture is one of its areas of interest.

“We’ve been working with Mixdesign for well over a year. They are great people and understand the Perry Farm and the Exploration Station,” board president David Zinanni said.

“The plans they have come up with are game changers for the area. The only thing holding us back at this point is funding. But we will finish the old castle room [at Exploration Station], which is grant funded and money we have saved.

“We will then seek other grants and save for additional facility improvements to the exploration station,” Zinanni added.

Last month, commissioners received an update report from Mixdesign. It featured 16 different ideas to piggyback on the park district’s Exploration Station.

Current BTPD Director Mike O’Shea said these were only ideas, nothing else. They came about as representatives of Mixdesign toured the farm and its buildings and talked to BTPD officials.

“These are still the initial concept plans for the project. Most likely there will be selected changes as we move forward with the project and further discussions with everyone,” O’Shea explained.

”We have a good plan. It is broken down into 16 sections. We are going area by area about what we want to make it look like. Honoring the history of Perry Farm."

Among the 16 ideas are ones for livestock, soil and water, a story about the plants and crops, even a Kankakee River underwater experience.

“There has been a big emphasis on Perry Farm. The history of Perry Farm and agriculture,” O’Shea said.

“We are also looking at some exhibits for the Exploration Station for older kids like in fifth grade. Stuff that people will enjoy.”

Zinanni said the board is using the park district’s comprehensive master plan to make improvements. But it will be done when funding can be obtained through grants from the state and Bradley.

“We aren’t in a hurry; we want to do it right,” he said.