Raging Buffalo Will Not Open This Winter

ALGONQUIN, IL – Raging Buffalo Snowboard and Ski Park in Algonquin will be closed for the 2018-19 winter season, park officials recently announced. The local park has been undergoing an expansion project, which includes an expanded hill and a brand new lodge, but Mother Nature has not been cooperating. Because of this, management at Raging Buffalo decided not to open for this winter season, according to a statement posted on the park's website.

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

But, due to recording-breaking rains this past spring and an unseasonably wet fall, there have been setbacks.

"For this reason we have decided not to open for the current winter season, our 26th year, while the remainder of the dirt is relocated and the lodge is constructed," Raging Buffalo officials said in a statement posted on its website.

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 will include a larger area for snowboarding and a new, free sledding area for the public. A 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.

Raging Buffalo officials are currently 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.

Patch will update with more information as it becomes available.

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Photo caption: The expansion project at Raging Buffalo continues. Photo credit: Amie Rowland