Trail Work Days – Work has begun on trailbuilding!  Friends of Rocky Glen will be having trail building work days. Participants should wear long pants and bring a shovel and/or a small brush saw and work gloves. We will meet at the parking lot on Kickapoo Creek Road.

Please direct questions to Rick Fox at 309-369-5330 or rick@rickdfox.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A fundraising event sponsored by the Friends of Rocky Glen, (FORG), to help provide a hiking trail for Rocky Glen park will occur on Saturday, October 8, 2016, from 10 am to 6 pm at Jimmys Bar, 2701 Farmington Road in West Peoria. There will be free guided hike tours throughout the day, free light breakfast, free lunch and free live music from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Donations are welcome. There will also be merchandise and memberships available for donations.

Rocky Glen is a new 125 acre Peoria Park District natural area located off of Kickapoo Creek Road that includes a unique box canyon and two seasonal waterfalls. Nearly 2000 people have hiked this canyon over the past 5 years with the volunteer group Friends of Rocky Glen. Construction of a parking lot will begin this fall will allow the community year round, dawn to dusk access.

According to Dave Pittman, FORG President, funds from the event will be used to help construct a hiking trail from the new parking lot up the 100 foot bluff then down into the canyon and the large sandstone rock outcroppings. “Rocky Glen is a very unique combination of geology, unique meadows and human history. We hope to develop signage along the trail that will tell its story of coal mining and late nineteenth century union organizing efforts that really did happen right here”.

Rocky Glen supporters will have a chance to listen to some great homebrew country rock and acoustic music with Brian Dennison, blues artist with roots in Peoria’s south end. Brian recently performed at the Peoria Riverfront Blues and Heritage Fest. Dennison writes his own music and loves to play, always seeking to entertain and stretch his vocal range.  The polished clarity of his song I’M DONE, provides excellent background melodies, while the hard rocking title song from his CD, SOUTH END CELEBRITY, is great country rock. The well written tribute to his grandparents in SAVE A SEAT FOR ME and the beautiful images in FLOWERS, reveal his great talent. Anyone who spends some time listening to Dennison will hear some quality Peoria talent.

For more information please contact FORG President Dave Pittman at 309-573-2354, dvdgpittman@gmail.com.

After the planned October 10th hike, monthly hikes will be suspended until Spring 2016 at the earliest. The Friends Of Rocky Glen board of directors made this difficult decision after repeated encounters with a Kickapoo Creek Road neighbor who questioned the legality of using right of way for parking and the safety of leading groups along Kickapoo Creek Road. During the monthly hike hiatus, FORG will be working to clarify the legality of parking/drop off along Creek Road, develop formal safety procedures and explore alternatives. For the September 12th and October 10th hikes, a property owner adjacent to the glen entrance has granted us permission to use his driveway to drop off and pick up hikers.

FORG remains committed to partnering with Peoria Park District to open this beautiful park to the public as soon as possible.

Join us for the 4th annual Rocky Glen Fundraiser at Jimmy’s!

Saturday, July 18th from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM

• 2801 W Farmington Rd
• West Peoria, IL

All proceeds go to developing a parking lot for public acess at Rocky Glen

Hikes throughout the day at Rocky Glen

• From 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
• Rocky Glen is not yet open to the public, so access to the area has been granted to the Friends of Rocky Glen by the Peoria Park District. We meet in the parking lot at Jimmy’s Bar on Farmington Road and then carpool to the hiking area on Kickapoo Creek Road.
• Come Prepared: Wear long pants, hiking shoes, and be prepared to get wet or muddy.

Free food!

• Light breakfast including fruit, coffee, orange juice, and energy bars
• Lunch:  hot dogs and potato chips

Free Music from 12:00 to 8:00 PM including (in order of appearance)

• John Fuller
• Just a Friend
• Jade Season
• Sarah Marie Dillard
• TNT & Friends

50-50 Raffle!

Rocky Glen T-shirts and Merchandise!

Friends of Rocky Glen Memberships

Donations gratefully accepted.. 

Call 309-573-2354 for more information.  Join the facebook edition of the event HERE.

Check out the latest pictures from our December 8th monthly guided hike to Rocky Glen!