Heat and a Holiday Make for a Day Off in the Park

Whenever Davis Elkins is presented with good weather and a day off work, he grabs his keyboard and heads down to to play his music and enjoy the sun, as he did on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“I’ve been playing music since I was 4 years old,” said Elkins, 19. Although he works in a pet store, he said his dream is to be discovered and become a professional musician. That's why he practices and composes "modern classical music" in the park whenever the weather is nice.

Elkins wasn't alone in spending time in one of Lake Forest's 27 city-owned green spaces on a federal holiday during which temperatures reached a high of 88 degrees.

“The day is an awesome change,” said Janine Fetter, 34, while helping her youngest, Audrey, on some of the play equipment at .

Amy Baquerizo, 44, and her daughter Bella, 3, said it felt like summer. Together, they sat enjoying a light snack before heading home.

Chatting with friends as they watched their children make mischief on the monkey bars and in the sand, Robin Park agreed.

“I feel guilty, wearing shorts in the middle of winter,” she said.

For Sumatie Swaro, though, the temperature wasn't all that impressive compared to that of her home country, India, from which she arrived just two months ago.

“It still feels cold,” said Swaro.

For Esther Cruz, the day in the park held deeper significance.

 “There is no day care for my father on holidays,” said Cruz, whose 70-year-old father, Rigoberto Cruz, suffers from a form of dementia. “We come on Saturdays to walk him. [Rimgate] Park is the only park he remembers. For him, it’s like home.”

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