What's in a name? A lot when it comes to this park

Parks generally have innocuous names.  They may be named after a tree, a river or neighborhood near their location.

                Buffalo Grove parks are no different – Willow Stream Park, Children’s Park, Green Lake Park.

                 
The one park that seems to be the epicenter of activity is Mike Rylko Park.  In addition to baseball fields, Rylko Park, with an official address of 1000 N. Buffalo Grove Road, is home to the Farmers’ Market is there, BG Days, which is starting its run there this weekend, the Spray and Play,  a running/cycling trail, not to mention the Buffalo Grove Fitness Center.

The Spray and Play is one feature at the Mike Rylko Community Park

                At 76.5 acres, it is the largest park in the village, which makes naming it Mike Rylko Community Park more than just a little appropriate because it reflects the large accomplishments of its namesake.

                If you know who he is.

                I’m not sure what prompted it, but one day I wondered “who is Mike Rylko”?   Early on I thought the name of the park was Mike Royko Park, but that didn’t make sense to me.

                So who is Mike Rylko and where is he these days?

                Easy question with an interesting answer.

                Rylko was executive director of the Buffalo Grove Park District for more than two decades.  During that time the Park District exploded in growth in terms of staff and green space acreage.  During his tenure, the Park District went, according to a report on Rylko’s retirement in the Daily Herald from “…10 parks to 50, from 127 acres to 414, from 10 full-time employees to 52.”

                So they named a park after him, honored him, put a sign up there and folks seemed happy with it. 

                But where is Rylko?  When I caught up with him, he was filling his Honda Goldwing motorcycle with gas – just outside Yellowstone National Park. Even though he’s retired, Rylko is far from inactive.

                Rylko is in the midst of an extended motorcycle trip out west with a friend.  Riding his bike is just one of the things he’s been doing since retiring.  He’s become an avid golfer, spends a fair amount of time in Arizona where he and his wife, Ann, are self-proclaimed snowbirds.

                When he’s not in Arizona, he lives in a retirement community in Mundelein, but that doesn’t mean he has cut ties with Buffalo Grove. He says when he’s not in Arizona, or taking a bike trip, he is “still in Buffalo Grove several times a week.”  Rylko also remains active with the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club, which gives him the chance to keep in touch with longtime friends.

                As for having his name associated with what may very well be the village’s showcase park, Rylko says it was “a big shock, surprise and great honor.” 

                Rylko says he’s thrilled to see Buffalo Grove Days at the park bearing his name, but does have some mixed feelings about this year’s event.

                “It will be only the second time in 30 years won’t be there,” he said.  He will be continuing his western trip during BG Days.  Rylko said he will especially miss the Bingo tent, something he was in charge of “for years.”

                As for his time as head of the Park District, Rylko says it was “fun time to be there; I was never bored”.

                That has not changed. In between golf, bike trips (some of which he takes with his wife, Ann, who has her own Goldwing) and even officiating hockey, Rylko is far from bored.

                And while his leadership put the development of Buffalo Grove’s ‘green belt’ on the highway of growth, he’s traveling a different road now.

                At least as he rides his motorcycle through the west.

                “We’re taking all back roads,” he said from Wyoming. “no Interstate,” he said.