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1970 JOINT ANNUAL CONFERENCE Sponsored by Illinois Association of Park Districts and Illinois Park and Recreation Society NOVEMBER 1-4, 1970 PICK- CONGRESS HOTEL, CHICAGO A new dimension—or shall we say a "renewed" dimension—is very suddenly brought upon us with public attention now attracted to all facets of environmental issues. If we read the newspapers of a century ago, water and soil pollution and the need for enriched recreational opportunities gave birth to the legislation that has brought Illinois to its prominence in the parks and recreation movement. It is therefore most fitting that we renew our attention to the inspiration that put us where we are by dedicating our next annual conference to the theme, "The Environment . . . What Will We Make Of It?" It is also fitting that we renew this inspiration by returning to the city where this great movement started in 1869 and where such great progress has been made. In November, the first four days, in Chicago the Illinois Association of Park Districts will hold its 43rd annual meeting jointly with the Illinois Park and Recreation Society holding its 18th annual meeting. This will be the eleventh year that these two organizations have met in joint conferences. The Association has a corporate membership and is represented in the conference by delegates who are preponderantly elected park commissioners. The Society is the professional organization whose members are the park and recreation employees of many public agencies of Illinois. Our Welcome The official welcome will be extended by Hon. Daniel J. Shannon, President of the Chicago Park District. President Shannon is a youthful business man who has devoted almost full time to his duties with the Park District. Mr. Shannon was the youngest man ever to be appointed to this post having been selected by Mayor Richard J. Daley and approved by the City Council in July 1967. He is a graduate of Notre Dame University and now heads the accounting firm of Peter M. Shannon and Company. He was co-captain of the 1954 Notre Dame football team and was voted All-American. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force with the rank of Captain. In 1967 the Jaycees selected him as one of Chicago's ten outstanding young men. Mr. Shannon is a board member of the Chicago Boys Club; chairman of the Associate Board of Consulates at Mercy Hospital; and a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association of Park Districts. Banquet Speaker At the annual Great Lakes Park Training Institute held under the auspices of Indiana University at Pokagon State Park, a speaker appeared that was most captivating. He was so good that those who heard him strongly recommended that he be retained for this meeting. He has accepted our invitation and we are most enthusiastic in offering as our banquet speaker Dr. Dean Berkley, of Indiana University. Dr. Berkley is currently serving as Director, Division of Administration and Administrative Studies and Professor of School Administration. From 1962-69, he served as Coordinating Secretary of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents and Director of the Bureau of Field Services in the School of Education. He is a native of South Dakota, having served as teacher, coach and school administrator in the South Dakota schools before joining the Indiana University faculty in 1957. He holds a Bachelors degree from Dakota Wesleyan University and graduate degrees from the University of Denver. Dr. Berkley served as a District Governor of Toastmasters International; is a former Toastmasters International Speech Contest winner; coached five state and two national championship speech teams; was a Ford Foundation Fellow; has authored numerous articles and publications; spent six months in Europe (1967-68) studying the British educational system; is a member of the Bloomington Rotary Club and St. Mark's United Methodist Church; is married and has four children. Illinois Parks and Recreation 130 September/October 1970 Dr. Berkley's professional memberships include the National Education Association, American Association of School Administrators, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and Phi Delta Kappa.
Another outstanding Jaycee in the program will be Mr. R. Bradford Laycock, owner and head of the firm of Brad Laycock and Associates. Mr. Laycock in his day-to-day job is a manufacturer's representative in the office, school and industrial equipment fields. He is very well known for his work with the Illinois Jaycees. For 1 1/2 years. Brad was editor of the Evanston Jaycees monthly newsletter, the "HANDCLASP". For the next six consecutive years he was elected to and served in the following Jaycee offices: Administrative Vice President, Evanston Jaycees; Internal Vice President, Evanston Jaycees; President, Evanston Jaycees; Vice President, Illinois Jaycees; Director, United States Jaycees; and President of the Illinois Jaycees. As the 34th President of the Illinois Jaycees, Brad leads the 13,000 man organization with 280 local chapters, striving to continue its role as the number one leadership training and community service organization in Illinois. Preconference Workshops And Tours
For the first time in the history of the Conferences, sessions will be conducted on SUNDAY, November 1. This is a test to determine whether or not more board members will attend if the meetings are scheduled when they will not interfere with business. To make this Sunday program most interesting, particularly for Board Members, there will be one four-hour session on Legal and Legislative problems, chaired by Robert A. Stuart, our Association counsel. Another four-hour session will be devoted to Finance problems and this session will be chaired by Robert 0. Pohl, Commissioner, Glenview Park District, and Vice President of the LaSalle National Bank. For those who can come early, but are not ready to work on Sunday, three tours have been organized
Illinois Parks and Recreation 131 September/October 1970
by Al Binder, Recreation Superintendent of the Deerfield Park District. One will visit the new Elk Grove Park District; another the Glenview and Winnetka Park Districts, and the third, special attractions of the Chicago Park District. If interest in the tours are sufficient more tours may be scheduled before the conference opens. Our Educational Sessions Through the efforts of Betty Irons, Commissioner of Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, and Vice President of the Association, and Mick Pope, Director of Parks and Recreation for the Homewood- Flossmoor Park District, and chairman of the Illinois Park and Recreation conference committee, the most ambitious schedule of education sessions has been prepared. A careful analysis of previous convention registration was made, as well as that of feedback from various sources, and the topics selected are oriented to Board Members; the Administration or Executives; the Recreation Leaders; and the Maintenance or Physical Property supervisors. Several sessions are offered on secretarial duties and another group on Outdoor Education. From Monday through Wednesday fifty educational sessions will be conducted with some of the titles as follows:
Evaluating Recreation Programs New Experimental Programs and
Research Projects
Our Conference Headquarters Our headquarters, the Pick-Congress Hotel is one of Chicago's oldest hotels—and among its most legendary. It is located on Michigan Avenue opposite Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, and the lakefront. A monument to the massive architecture of the 90s, today's imaginative guest can still find its rooms and corridors peopled by the memories and echoes left by three generations of Midwest travelers. He can sense the cobbled streets, gas lights, horsedrawn carriages, picture hats, long skirts and bewhiskered faces familiar to its vanished yesterdays. Chronology, of course, explains why, for the first Congress Hotel unit was erected in the memorable year of 1893. Located directly across from and as an annex to, the then celebrated Auditorium Hotel, its purpose was to accommodate the expected influx of visitors to Chicago's famed "Columbian Exposition". Throughout the years since, that name has been associated with the past glory of many famous rooms and many eminent hotelmen. As the "pomp and ceremony center." so to speak, of Chicago's civic and social heyday, the Congress Hotel's spacious ground-floor rooms were unrivaled for grace and splendor. Between its advantageous lake-front location, its spacious accommodations, and the elegance of its interiors, this offspring of Exposition days became a natural Mecca for innumerable headline figures- Illinois Parks and Recreation 132 September/October 1970
Cleveland, McKinley, "Teddy" Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and "F. D. R,"-having made the Congress their headquarters, identified it nationwide as "The Home of Presidents." On August 1, 1950, the hotel was purchased by Pick Hotels Corporation. Now known as the Pick-Congress, and Chicago unit of its hotel and motel chain, it has since, at a cost of many millions of dollars, been so completely modernized and restyled throughout as to place it among the city's top hostelries. True to its heritage of elegant decor, fine cuisine, and the name-prestige bequeathed from a picturesque past, the Pick-Congress of today is not only a "landmark of Chicago hospitality," but confidently shares in the city's birthright of future growth and progress. FOR LADIES ONLY ! ! Why should you come to the convention with your husband? First, of course, it's fun to get away ... and share the experience. That goes for downstaters and suburbanites alike. Then ... you can sample the delights of a big city, sightsee, shop, try new restaurants, and make new friends. The hospitality room is just for you. You'll find a coffee pot bubbling away at all hours, a bridge table waiting, someone to visit with, and complete information on what the city has to offer if you want to go off on your own. Suburbanites can come in with their husbands each day to join our activities. Planned tours include such places as the Merchandise Mart where you can see some of the fabulous new designs in home furnishings. This will be a specially guided tour arranged by the Mart for the Commissioners' and Professionals' wives. Visit the John Hancock Building, Hull House. Old Town, eat at exotic Kontiki Ports restaurant and the revolving Pinnacle Restaurant on the lakefront and have time for some early Christmas shopping while husbands are in session.
Certainly, Gentlemen should not forget to bring their ladies to the Chinatown tour on Sunday evening as for many strangers to Chicago this will be a most unusual evening.
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Honorable Daniel Shannon, President, Chicago Park District, luncheon speaker
