The area around the popular Dawes Park pond will be renovated throughout the spring and summer to fix deteriorating infrastructure.

Renovations to the aging lakefront pond south of Northwestern’s campus, known as the Arrington Lakefront Lagoon, are scheduled to begin this week and continue through September.

“It’s been around for a long time,” said Stefanie Levine, who works for the city’s Public Works Department and is overseeing the project. “It gets a lot of use, and a lot of the infrastructure that supports the facility is in deteriorated condition and needs to be fixed.”

The project will include updates to the lighting system and repairs to the surrounding brickwork and stone walls. The construction will also replace the plumbing for the pond’s fountain features.

In addition, the project will add handrails to the stairs near the pond and will smooth out uneven pavement in order to be compliant with federal regulations that require public spaces to be accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Aside from wider, smoother pavements and repaired walls, however, the appearance of the area will not be altered.

“It’s really just the mechanicals that are going to get changed out,” Levine said. “The site will look very much like it does today.”

The Ethnic Arts Festival and the Lakeshore Arts Festival, which normally take place by the pond in July, will be relocated to a different area this summer.

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