Beer Garden Coming To Independence Grove, Beach Will Close

LAKE COUNTY, IL — The beach at Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville will not reopen this summer. Instead, a beer garden will take its place.

The Lake County Forest Preserves District Board of Commissioners voted earlier this year to permanently close the beach due to a loss in revenue. Now forest preserve district officials plan to repurpose the beach house into beer garden where choices from local breweries will be available, according to the Lake County News-Sun. And they hope to open by Memorial Day weekend.

“The beer garden will be a fine new amenity which will accommodate people who use the trails,” board president Angelo Kyle told the Lake County News-Sun. “After a walk on the trails, it’s a perfect opportunity to sit down, have a beer and get something to eat. They can enjoy a beer while they walk. One amenity can roll into another.”

The beach, which operated every summer from 2002 up through last summer when it was forced to close because of COVID, has seen fewer people stopping out and is not making enough money to sustain its operating costs, according to the Daily Herald.

The new beer garden will be open on weekends and Tuesday nights, initially, with plans to increase hours if the "demand is there," Mike Tully, the forest district's chief operations officer, told the Daily Herald. The annual concert series is planned for Tuesday nights at nearby Millennia Plaza, soda and snacks will also be sold at the beer garden and burgers and other food can be bought at a nearby café.

Picnic tables will be set up in the area for people to sit and enjoy their food and drinks, according to the Lake County News-Sun.