Meeting to be held at 7 p.m. in the Wilder Mansion
Elmhurst Park District Executive Director Jim Rogers, in a Dec. 8 memo to the Elmhurst Park District Board of Commissioners, made a staff recommendation that the board vote, at its Jan. 12 meeting, on a location for the new bandshell—and also on a design for the bandshell—in order to “advance the process toward developing a preliminary master plan.”
There has been controversy over the proposed location for the bandshell following a Nov. 4, 2024, referendum in which voters approved a bond request to raise $90 million for park district improvements, including the construction of a new bandshell—at a projected cost of $2.5 million.
According to Elmhurst residents Jim Schuetz and Andrea Hutchinson, they and other residents back in May of 2025 questioned the proposed location of the bandshell—on the east side of Wilder Mansion—while commissioners approved the site by a vote of 4 to 3.
A petition was then launched on change.org asking commissioners to get more public opinion, and according to Schuetz, over 800 people signed the petition. Consequently, in July, the newly formed Wilder Park Bandshell Awareness Team created a survey asking residents what they thought of the proposed location, with Schuetz noting in September that the wording “did not advocate for any particular location.”
Results from an Elmhurst Park District survey held between Nov. 20 and Dec. 1 indicate that 70 percent of respondents prefer the construction of a new bandshell at the site of the former ice rink, versus 30 percent of voters preferring a site east of Wilder Mansion.
Out of 390 responses, 41 percent of the survey takers favored constructing a bandshell at the site of the former ice rink, followed by 28 percent in favor of the former Lizzadro site and 21 percent favoring an area north of the playground.
According to Schuetz, 8 percent of respondents chose the east lawn of Wilder Mansion, with 8 percent selecting the east lawn as a backup location.
The park district spent $23,000 on tents that were set up to depict the possible locations for the bandshell, according to Rogers, who said that while a “walk-through” slated for Aug. 18 was cancelled due to inclement weather, subsequently, “Each board member had a chance to see all those tents.”
While the park district conducted its own survey, it did not ask specific questions about a location for the bandshell, although residents added their own comments.
Some residents favored keeping the “referendum location,” as one respondent put it, but many of the comments pointed to locating the bandshell elsewhere.
While there were some concerns that the location appeared vague (it merely says “Wilder Park” in the referendum wording), Rogers pointed out when interviewed in September that “The location was communicated to the community during the referendum campaign.”
While the board has also been considering the other projects slated to be part of the Master Plan (park improvements such as permanent heated bathrooms and artificial turf at Berens Park, and a new Wagner Community Center), in October they also looked at 
three bandshell concept plans—the east lawn of Wilder Mansion, on the north side of the former ice rink facing south and on the south side facing north—before eliminating the option facing south.
In November the board held a public open house and conducted a second survey to “independently select which amenities they would like included in a Master Plan,” according to Rogers, which also included the location and design of the bandshell.
While just over 2,600 responses were received, it was discovered that “a considerable number of surveys” came back-to-back from a single IP address/device, according to Rogers. The information was conveyed to SurveyMonkey, and after review, it was determined that there was spam involved, or some kind of “bot,” and 514 responses were removed from the results.
All but one of those surveys had recommended the east lawn of Wilder Mansion.
According to Upland Design Ltd., results of the second survey (minus the removed responses) showed that 70 percent of the respondents favor the former ice rink location, versus 30 percent for the east lawn of Wilder Mansion. Out of four bandshell design options, respondents favor one particular option over the others by a large majority.
Schuetz, however, mentioned his concern that what was to be a 40-foot by 40-foot bandshell has been reconfigured to 40 feet by 60 feet, which he considers “a drastic change,” adding that to his knowledge this was “never presented” to the public at a Nov. 10 meeting when consultants presented their plans for the east lawn of Wilder Mansion and the two former ice rink locations.
“Do we really need a bandshell that large?” he posed.
Both Schuetz and Hutchinson have all along been proponents of the former ice rink location—as have many survey respondents—saying that a bandshell on the east lawn would obstruct the view of the mansion.
Hutchinson said of a Dec. 8 meeting that while summary findings from the second survey were presented, “We expected a presentation of the results, a cursory overview of the survey,” adding that she did not hear any discussion of the survey results among commissioners.
It is expected that the board will vote on Jan. 12 for a bandshell concept plan and design, and then on Jan. 26 will review cost estimates. A public open house presenting the final Master Plan is slated for the first week of February, followed by approval of the plan on Feb.9.
“We are hoping commissioners take heed in the results of the survey,” Hutchinson said. “We want to make sure the commissioners are listening to what the community is saying.”
The board meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Wilder Mansion, 211 S. Prospect Ave., Elmhurst.
For more information, visit www.epd.org.