Raging Buffalo Management Stepping Down After 26 Years

ALGONQUIN, IL -- The current management at Raging Buffalo Snowboard and Ski Park has decided not to continue operating the facility along Route 31. After announcing it would take a temporary break this past winter, which was meant to just be a brief hiatus as construction got going on a new lodge and the ski park added on to its hills, managers of the park announced this past week they had made the hard decision not to continue operating the facility, which is located on Forest Preserve District of Kane County property.

Keith Duck, who has helped manage the property for the past 26 years, wrote that a change in "climate and societal behavior" made it "increasingly difficult" for the managers to maintain their business model.

"We were at the end of our current lease with the forest preserve and instead of exploring another 10 years we are deciding to start a new chapter in our lives," Duck wrote on Facebook.

The local ski park has been undergoing an expansion project, which included an expanded hill and a brand new lodge, but Mother Nature had not been cooperating, Raging Buffalo officials said last fall. Because of this, management announced Raging Buffalo would not open for the winter.

At that time, Raging Buffalo officials also said they were looking into "investor and management partnerships" in order to turn the park into a year-round facility once the expansion is complete, according to the statement.

As part of its renovation project, Raging Buffalo entered an agreement with the Kane County Division of Transportation, which allowed for soil from construction of the Longmeadow Parkway project, which is currently underway near Raging Buffalo, to be moved to Raging Buffalo and to be used as part of an expanded hill, according to the Daily Herald. In return, the county said it would pay up to $500,000 for Raging Buffalo's new lodge.

In recent months, dump trucks could be seen moving dirt from the Longmeadow project down to Raging Buffalo, which is located along Route 31 south of downtown Algonquin.Raging Buffalo is located in the Buffalo Park Forest Preserve.

Jerry Culp, who is overseeing the project for the forest preserve district, told the Daily Herald the expansion, when finished, would include a larger area for snowboarding and a new, free sledding area for the public. The new hill will be 30 feet higher than the current hill. An asphalt parking lot will also be added and will replace the current gravel parking area.

Photo credit: Amie Rowland