Amazing Race

Season 6 of the Amazing Race ended at Ping Tom Memorial Park.

Water Taxi

Every year, over 70,000 people come to Ping Tom Memorial Park via the Wendella Water Taxi.

First River Park

Ping Tom Memorial Park was designed to take advantage of its river front location. Ernest Wong of site design group recalls: “At one community meeting, the issue of installing a steel railing along the entire river edge was argued.  The Chicago Park District insisted that the lakefront didn’t have railings and the community was given a choice between railings and a pavilion. The community made the right choice, but I was instructed to place boulders along the river edge to create a natural barrier. When the boulders arrived, they were huge.  The wall that it created was terrible and defeated the purpose of grading the entire site to provide access to the river.  I spent the next two weeks working with the contractors to move the boulders all over the park and open up the riverfront.  The contractors hated me and I thought I would end up floating in the river face down.”