Registration opened for the Chicago Park District’s summer day camps this week, with online registration starting Monday morning for parks west of California Avenue and Tuesday morning for parks east of California.
The park district’s programs offer a wide range of sports and arts activities. Day camp runs from June 23 to Aug. 1, with most other summer programs taking place from June 16 to Aug. 10. Parents have been able to preview the part district’s offering for this summer on the park district’s website since April 7.
If you haven’t registered your children yet, you can search for the price changes at your local park’s day camp in the dropdown below. It shows costs ranging from 2019 to this summer:
Search your park here:
Some parents felt some sticker shock seeing the day camp registration costs last week. Data from the park district shows how much costs fell in 2020 and have steadily risen closer to pre-pandemic levels this year.
The highest camp cost this year will be $4 per hour, and the average cost across all camps is $1.39 an hour. The park district does offer help for families that need it, including a payment plan and financial assistance for qualifying families.
A spokesperson for the park district told the Sun-Times prices were slashed in 2020 to help families facing “financial uncertainties,” but because of rising operational costs, the park district has been steadily bringing prices back to what they were in 2019 for nearly all summer day camps.