Rockford

when you think of dying cities…Rockford is on that list. Crime is ridiculously high for the size of the city, there is next to nothing to do, and most of down town is closed…all of the time. This place needs a kick in the ass to clean itself up and save itself before it dies all together.

Thank you to the Mayor of Rockford, the Visitors and Convention Bureau, and all the wonderful volunteers that made the America in Bloom 2007 Symposium and Awards Conference such a great experience for us. We felt very welcome, and could feel the pride people have in Rockford.

We not only enjoyed the convention, but also our time at the Coronado Theatre, lunch at the Paragon, and Vanilla Beer at the Carlyle Brew Pub!

See you again soon.

Cheers
TravelinFrank

I grew up in Rockford and it made an important impression on me. I appreciate the people I knew and the experieces i had there, but there are better places to spend your time.

I was born here. How much more life-changing can we get? Haha. At least for my folks, anyhow. O_o

And the ONLY reason I say it’s worth visiting is for Sinnissippi Gardens. They have a lovely conservatory filled with plants and some birds, and in the summer it’s just beautiful. Otherwise, blech. Rockford sucks.

I went to college here.

It was so boring that I often joked that college was the 20 longest years of my life.

That said, it’s well located for quick trips to Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee.

The Stockholm Inn restaurant.

Go. Have delicious Swedish pancakes. Sure, you’ll inch that much closer to death, but they melt in your mouth and they’re positively wonderful.

I lived here for 4 years—high school. So maybe the reason it is not worth visiting is because all I think of is how horrible my high school experience was. There were some highlights, don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed being part of the debate team at Rockford East High School. I graduated there in 1983.

I’ve been here on numerous field trips in my youth and I can say they have wonderful museums…the Riverfront Museum Campus is definitely worth checking out. They got an art museum, history museum (Burpee), science/children’s (Discovery Center), and so forth. Midway Village and the Tinker House are also cool places I hear.

They also have a nice arena in the Metro Centre. A 10,000 seater, it is very cozy and is a great place for concerts. I think they have a hockey team too.

The downtown is fairly nice, the Rock River is stunningly gorgeous, the parks look decent, the airport is improving, they just renovated Cherry Vale Mall, and there’s a lot of other commerical development going on along I-90. Don’t forget Magic Waters waterpark, either. This town has struggled with its loss of manufacturing jobs, but it’s coming back, I can feel it. Its proximity to Chicago, Iowa, and Wisconsin doesn’t hurt either.

went for the Heckinger family reunion in ‘94… haven’t been back since… cool fireflies though.