15 Best Things to Do in Kankakee (IL)

Sixty miles south of Chicago, Kankakee is a county seat and the first metropolis inside the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley metropolitan area.Dwelling to spherical 28,000, the city is on the glowing river of the similar title, the place French fur trappers plied their commerce inside the 18th century.Kankakee has some fabulous heritage, with inserting buildings downtown and a pair of Prairie Faculty houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on the flip of the 20th century.After leaving the city, the Kankakee River weaves by woodland and bluffs, and former a dolomite cave and ravine system that you'd have the option to go to at Perry Farm Park.

1. B. Harley Bradley Home

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Owned by a non-profit group, this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house is open to most people for excursions.The B. Harley Bradley Home is an early occasion of Wright’s Prairie Faculty vogue, impressed by the encircling tallgrass prairie and huge, horizontal landscapes.During the final 120+ years, the property has served a residence, office and even an acclaimed restaurant, sooner than it was restored inside the 2000s and opened to most people in 2010.The house has a lot of the choices that will later develop to be Wright hallmarks, like a low-pitched roof, overhanging eaves and plentiful stained glass. In reality the paintings glass is very celebrated proper right here, and 82 of the distinctive 90 house home windows survive.

2. Downtown Kankakee

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Visibly enhanced these days, Kankakee’s walkable central enterprise district blends attractive retailers, grand landmarks, fascinating museums, varied consuming and higher than a dozen leisure venues inside the space of some blocks.Once we wrote this textual content the county had moreover commissioned the Discovering Frank murals, fashionable works of street paintings evoking the Prairie Faculty vogue of Frank Lloyd Wright.Downtown’s centerpiece is the Harold & Jean Miner Pageant Sq., an events plaza surrounding the city’s historic railroad depot, and an anchor for the Service supplier Avenue MusicFest in summer time season.

3. Kankakee County Museum

Supply: Kankakee County Museum / Fb

Established in 1906, Kankakee County has the oldest included historic society inside the state.The society’s museum sits by the west monetary establishment of the Kankakee River at Small Memorial Park. There you presumably can peruse a pair of residing historic previous buildings, on the Dr. A. L. Small Memorial Dwelling (1855) and a one-room schoolhouse from spherical 1904.The main, modern establishing has fascinating eternal shows and generally up to date non everlasting shows.You will uncover out regarding the three Illinois governors to hail from Kankakee County, the Kankakee-raised sculptor George Gray Barnard (1863-1938), the county’s sporting prowess, tales from the Civil Warfare and its African American heritage.The largest space is devoted to a whole and interactive timeline of Kankakee County, from the Ice Age to the Nineteen Eighties.

4. Perry Farm Park

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Bourbonnais Township Park District takes care of this idyllic park on what was as soon as farmland.There’s a reminder of what bought right here sooner than at a working historic farmstead, with a farmhouse, barns, outbuildings and a variety of house animals for youngsters to fulfill and feed.The park moreover has a mosaic of formal gardens, orchards and leisure fields, in addition to 4 miles of paved trails meandering by the woods, prairie and riverside habitats for walks and bike rides.One factor sudden, merely in from the Kankakee River monetary establishment is a ravine and cave system, which we’ll discuss barely later.

5. Riverview Historic District

Supply: Teemu008 / Flickr | CC BY-SA

On a sunny day it's possible you'll spend a relaxing hour or so ambling spherical this elegant area, a few blocks south of downtown Kankakee.Dwelling in truth to the B. Harley Bradley Home, the Riverview Historic District is the oldest intact neighborhood inside the metropolis, overlaying just about 80 acres and boasting scores of luxurious houses, many successfully over a century outdated.Wright moreover designed the Warren Hickox Home (1900), subsequent door to the Bradley Home, whereas there are 116 totally different properties contributing to the district.These are on huge, leafy streets and boulevards, rising mature elms, oaks and maples. The district’s site has a downloadable brochure for a self-guided tour, starting on the Bradley Home and making 13 stops alongside South Harrison Ave, South Chicago Ave and Cobb Blvd.

6. Exploration Station

Supply: Exploration Station…a children’s museum / Fb

Filled with satisfying and interactivity, this children’s museum at Perry Farm Park is aimed towards youngsters aged 2 to eight.With collaborating hands-on shows and a rich array of every day actions, Exploration Station will most likely be an enriching and educational day journey for little ones.Among the numerous shows and areas are the interactive Exploralot Fort, the science and mathematics-themed Illumination, Up, Up and Away, the place children can assemble and examine their very personal aircraft and the Store-A-Lot Market, for frequently roleplay.On the STEAM Studying Lab, youngsters can put concepts into observe with open-ended exploration, whereas budding veterinarians can examine regarding the main guidelines of animal care on the Pet Clinic.

7. Indian Caves

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On the west facet of Perry Farm Park, the Bourbonnais Creek flows by an exquisite dolomite cliff and cave group on its technique to the Kankakee River.Unfold all through 30 acres, these formations are protected as an Illinois Nature Protect and are a delight to uncover, notably in {the summertime} if it’s important cool off.There’s a slender ravine, various caverns and a very good trying little waterfall, all framed by craggy dolomite partitions and embedded in woodland.An excellent pair of strolling footwear is a ought to, as a result of the rocks can develop to be slippery, and it’s a very good suggestion to keep to the designated paths.

8. French Heritage Museum

Supply: Kankakee County Museum / Fb

Run by the Kankakee County Museum, this attraction downtown is open on Saturdays, April by December.The very very first thing to discover regarding the French Heritage Museum is its historic limestone establishing, constructed as a carriage house inside the 1860s by the businessman Lemuel Milk, whose sprawling mansion used to face shut by.That is formally the third-oldest establishing in Kankakee, and was positioned on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations in 1979.Inside you’ll discover out all regarding the place of French explorers, retailers and missionaries inside the historic previous of the Kankakee River Valley. There are moreover fascinating particulars about how this French heritage stays a part of Kankakee’s id.

9. Kankakee Railroad Museum

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This nice little museum is on the north end of the restored historic Illinois Central Depot, which stays to be a functioning Amtrak station.The Kankakee Railroad Museum was primarily based by the native model railroad membership in 1999 and consists of various railroad artefacts.Most noticeable open air is the Pullman Coach, inbuilt 1947 and containing a whole consuming car, endowed with furnishings and all types of fascinating fixtures.Subsequent to it's a Union Pacific cupola caboose, and a trolley barn with a basic trolley current course of a long-term restoration.Head contained in the depot and there’s a trove of fascinating objects relating to precise and model railroads. You might as effectively check out three intact model railroads on N, HO and O scales.

10. Splash Valley Aquatic Middle

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Summers in Kankakee wouldn’t be the similar with out this outdoors pool superior, current in a campus moreover dwelling to the Centrue Financial establishment Sports actions Complicated and the Ice Valley Centre skating rink.Splash Valley bought right here by a significant reconstruction enterprise inside the late 2010s, and is centered on a giant pool, with a deeper area for crucial swimmers and a shallow area for households.The superior has three slides, two closed and one open, in addition to water troughs, a play operate, concession stand and two sand volleyball courts.

11. Kankakee River State Park

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Starting merely downriver from Kankakee is a 4,000-acre state park, encompassing the woods and scenic bluffs on every banks of the Kankakee River for spherical 11 miles.You’ll have the option to enterprise into this wilderness via an entire group of trails, along with the paved Kankakee River Path, a paved bike path working just about the scale of the park.The river is a gigantic draw, as a result of it has been for lots of centuries, attracting the Illini and Miami Native People inside the seventeenth century after which well-known French fur retailers like Noel Le Vasseur inside the 18th century.There are two campgrounds on the park, offering higher than 100 web sites each, in addition to a 12-mile equestrian path, fairly just a few fishing options, boat launches, picnic areas and a seasonal concession stand.

12. Reeds Canoe Journeys

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The Kankakee River is effectively often known as one in all many cleanest in the entire nation, and when you match that with stunning pure environment and simple currents you’ve purchased an impressive watercourse for paddling.Based principally in Kankakee, Reeds Canoe Journeys has a choice of three journeys, ranging from two to a most of six hours prolonged, applicable for canoeists of all abilities.The preferred of these is a 12-mile journey down in the route of Kankakee River State Park, stopping at Perry Farm park to go ashore and uncover Indian Caves.Journeys embody all of the required main gear, in addition to transportation to the place to start and pickup and return to Kankakee on the end.

13. Kankakee Farmers’ Market

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Could by October, the Kankakee Farmers’ Market takes place downtown on Saturday mornings.It’s the one Saturday market inside the area, which helps to usher in prospects from neighboring cities, and even from all through the street in Indiana.To sum up, the market has barely little bit of each half, from latest fruit and greens to cheeses, meat, poultry, spices, flowers, an array of baked objects, kettle corn, arts and crafts and additional.There’s moreover an essential variety of meals and drinks to go, like freshly roasted espresso, pizza, tacos and Filipino street meals, with reside music most weeks.

14. Haigh Quarry

(*15*)

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A flooded outdated limestone quarry on the outskirts of Kankakee has been reworked proper right into a first-class scuba diving center.Haigh Quarry has sensational visibility, partly because of it’s fed by a spring, and the 12-acre pool is dwelling to assorted species of Midwest freshwater fish.The quarry descends higher than 50 toes, and a variety of fascinating points have been sunk proper right here, like a 33-foot cabin cruiser, a truck and an amphibious automobile.Haigh Quarry is open Could by October, and presents PADI applications for all ranges, correct as a lot as expert, in addition to gear leases.

15. Service supplier Avenue MusicFest

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A vibrant two arts and music pageant hits Kankakee on the end of July. The Service supplier Avenue MusicFest takes place inside the very center of metropolis at Harold & Jean Miner Pageant Sq., with the historic railroad depot as a memorable backdrop.In retailer are three ranges of reside music, showcasing native, regional and nationwide artists. That is all paired with a slew of paintings distributors alongside Artist Alley and an exquisite choice of native meals and drinks.You’ll have the option to choose from BBQ, fried rooster, tacos, wood-fired pizza, Philly steak sandwiches, Filipino favorites and much more.