"The focus groups we met with weren't interested in a park that would be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. They wanted a space to use year-round," Riverfront Commission co-chair Terry McGuire told Shaw Local in June, days before Northwestern Steel & Wire Park held its ribbon-cutting.
The park at 201 Wallace St. is now a few weeks from its first real cold. People who spent the summer at the splash pad already know the playground side well. The year-round side, the part residents asked for, is mostly still a plan. The park was planned in phases, and the phase finished so far is the warm-weather one. How the town uses its riverfront between now and next fall depends on that gap.
What opened in June, and which season it was built for
The park opened informally on June 2, timed to the Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive's whistle stop in Sterling, and the official ribbon-cutting followed on Saturday, June 13. It sits on part of the old Northwestern Steel and Wire mill, which closed in 2001 and left the site empty for years. The park idea started in 2022, when former Mayor Skip Lee asked Marc Geil and McGuire to lead a commission on developing the riverfront.
Phase one includes a fully accessible playground, a splash pad, a pavilion and park shelter, and Sunbolt solar-charging stations. The splash pad got most of the opening-day attention. Shaw Local's coverage of the ribbon-cutting described movable water cannons and a large dump bucket, with dozens of children using the playground and splash pad while officials cut the ribbon.
That's a warm-weather lineup, and the commission planned it that way. The original plan had three phases. The playground and splash pad came first, a parking lot second, and an amphitheater behind the pavilion third. McGuire said the design lets people use the park today while later phases are built around it without disrupting it.
The winter piece is tied to the playground. "We have a playground area that will turn into a winter playground with the ice skating ribbon and then we will be able to do a summer concert series on the stage area in back of the pavilion," McGuire said at the opening, as reported by Shaw Local. We haven't found any reporting since June that confirms the ice ribbon is built, scheduled, or set to run this season. The city hasn't posted a closing date for the splash pad or a winter schedule for the park either. For now, the winter playground is something the commission described, and nobody has announced it yet.
The money came in faster than the construction
The fundraising went well. Construction is moving at the usual pace. Here are the figures commission members and the city have given in public:
| Item | Figure | Source timing |
|---|---|---|
| City's original budget for the park portion | About $6 million | Cited by McGuire, June 2026 |
| Estimated cost once community wish lists were priced | Closer to $10 million | Cited by McGuire, June 2026 |
| Phase one design-build contract, Sjostrom and Sons of Rockford | $4.74 million | Awarded September 2024 |
| Donor commitments to the Sterling Riverfront Foundation | Over $3 million | As of June 2026 |
| State grant sought for the parking lot | $600,000 to $650,000 | Discussed July 2026 |
The gap between the $6 million budget and the roughly $10 million estimate is the price of what Sterling residents told the focus groups they wanted. Geil ran those groups with businesses, civic groups, parent groups, and private citizens. McGuire credited Heather Sotelo, executive director of the Greater Sterling Development Corporation, who leads donor efforts for the Sterling Riverfront Foundation, with closing much of that gap.
Donors responded to the year-round concept in particular. McGuire told Shaw Local that once local donors saw it, "they were all in." Enough money came in that features from the third phase were folded into the first and second. In practice, Sterling has the money for its four-season park ahead of the construction that would make it one. Two phases have become one combined second phase, and everything in it is aimed at the colder, later parts of the calendar.
Why the stage comes before the parking
What's left is an amphitheater and a parking lot. In June the commission projected that the combined second phase would be finished in the second half of 2027. The amphitheater will fill the space between the current pavilion and the river with grass seating, and the river side of the pavilion already has a stage area. A veterans' memorial is planned on the amphitheater side. McGuire also credited Janna Groharing, executive director of Sterling Main Street, with helping place the pavilion so the amphitheater side gets the right light for summer concerts.
At a July meeting covered by Shaw Local, the commission debated which piece should come first. Commission member Skip McCloud argued for parking. "We don't have events yet. We have people who are going there that need to park," he said. Sotelo answered that events couldn't happen until there was somewhere for people to sit. She also said hundreds of parking spaces already exist near the park and splash pad.
Co-chair Josh Johnson explained that the soil for the amphitheater is sitting where the parking lot will go, so the amphitheater has to be built first. He described the plan as moving the dirt, finishing the amphitheater, then applying for a grant for the lot "and get that done by next fall." City Manager Scott Shumard said skipping the grant would only speed up the parking lot by a month or two. He added that the lot probably wouldn't be finished before spring even if it were bid right away. The commission voted to build the amphitheater first and apply for an Illinois Department of Natural Resources OSLAD grant for the parking, with the application due by Aug. 31.
That July meeting is the most recent public account we've found of where phase two stands. No reporting since then has confirmed when amphitheater work starts, whether the grant was submitted, or whether it was awarded. If the plan holds, the stage that would host summer concerts and the lot that would make big events workable are both 2027 projects. For this first winter, that leaves the playground, the pavilion, and the amphitheater soil still waiting on the future parking-lot site.
The park is also only the first piece of a larger project. The commission's charge covered former industrial sites along the river, including the old Lawrence Brothers and National Manufacturing properties as well as the mill stretch. In June, Illinois approved Sterling's River Edge Redevelopment Zone, which covers about 3.14 square miles including key riverfront sites. Mayor Diana Merdian called the designation the piece that moves the city's $300 million riverfront redevelopment "into high gear," according to Shaw Local.
Using the riverfront before the rest is finished
Until the winter playground and the stage are built, the parts of the riverfront that work in cold weather are downtown and along the water. Sterling Main Street describes the Rock River shoreline as right next to the Central Business District and says the paved paths through the riverfront prairie plantings are finished and in use. In June, McGuire told Shaw Local that he looked over from the farmers market one Saturday morning and saw the park "just packed."
Dates and places for the next few months:
- Saturday, Oct. 31, Monster Market. The Twin City Farmers Market ends its outdoor season with vendor trick-or-treating. The market started in 2005, has more than 25 vendors, and moves indoors afterward, open Saturdays year-round from 8 a.m. to noon.
- Any dry day, the Sinnissippi Dam Walkway. The Sterling Park District lists this pedestrian bridge at about a quarter mile. It links Sterling and Rock Falls and ties Sterling's trail network to the Hennepin Feeder Canal, with access at 10th Avenue and 2nd Street.
- Friday, Dec. 4, Sights & Sounds, 5 to 8 p.m. The lighted parade steps off at 5:30 p.m. and heads down 4th Street to Library Plaza, where the tree lighting is planned for about 6 p.m. Sterling Main Street also lists Santa activities and trolley rides downtown. The holiday events are centered on Library Plaza, not the new park.
For a warm stop after a walk along the water, Sterling Main Street's downtown directory has a short run of places on 3rd Street. Air Play Espresso & Bakery is at 115 E. 3rd St., Crafted Roots is next door at 117, Sloppy Gene's Cafe is at 111, and Maria's Pizza is at 119. Farther west, The Rusty Fox Alehouse is at 1 E. 3rd St., El Jacalito at 14 E. 3rd St., and The Factory Pub-n-Grub at 103 W. 3rd St. On Locust Street there's Brink's at 214 and Dunk's Restaurant & Pizzaria at 312.
The commission and the foundation have said they'll keep meeting until the second phase is done and the rest of the riverfront is developed. When they announce dates for the ice ribbon, amphitheater construction, or the grant decision, the next winter at 201 Wallace St. should look very different from this one.
At Sullivan Realty, we follow what's changing in the towns we serve, from riverfront parks to farmland. If you have a question about the Sterling area or anywhere in Whiteside County, we're always glad to talk it through. Contact Us.
