Most of the park work going on in Eldridge this fall won't look like much until later. At Sheridan Meadows, fill dirt and a concrete foundation are going in for a bandshell that isn't due to be finished until June. At Hickory Creek, a wildflower patch has been sprayed and tilled for planting, and it won't really look like a meadow for about three years. At Elmegreen Park, a new shelter is still being priced, months after its original spring 2026 target. Each project is moving on its own timeline, and knowing those timelines tells you when each park is going to look different.
Sheridan Meadows gets the foundation for a stage
The biggest project is The Venue at Sheridan Meadows, a bandshell planned by the North Scott Rotary Club. According to the Rotary District 6000 newsletter, the club unveiled the project at its Service Above Self Gala on November 22, 2024, at the Rhythm City Casino in Davenport, in front of more than 530 guests. The bandshell is dedicated to the late Past District Governor Bill Tubbs and his wife, Linda. The couple gave $50,000 to start the fund, and the club matched it, bringing the total to $100,000 at launch.
The newsletter describes the bandshell as a cultural centerpiece for Sheridan Meadows, with room for concerts, performances and community events. At the time, the club was still collecting donations while it waited on final cost estimates, and project chair Pat Olsen described where things stood:
"We're excited about the strong start, but there's still work to be done."
More money has come in since then. The North Scott Press reported that First Central State Bank donated $30,000 to the project. The 2024 numbers were early figures, and they were reported before the final budget was set.
The construction schedule is newer. The city's September 8, 2026 Park Board minutes lay out the order of work. Dirt comes in this fall so the site can have a full lawn by next summer. The concrete foundation is due in late fall, and construction is set to wrap up by June. So if you walk Sheridan Meadows between now and Thanksgiving, you'll mostly see earthwork and forms. The structure itself comes later.
The handoff after the ribbon-cutting
Rotary is building the bandshell, and the minutes say ownership will pass from the Rotary Club to the City "at some point following completion." The board also approved a plan for the city to process all bandshell payments, with Rotary paying the city back, pending legal guidance. Once the transfer happens, the stage becomes city property in a city park, maintained alongside the shelters and ball fields around it.
Parking came up at the same meeting. The minutes record that board members "expressed some concern about adequate parking." No fix has been decided yet. Sheridan Meadows already draws crowds for ball games, and a performance venue will add evening events on top of them. The board's next regular meeting is Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The shelter next door gets fixed, not replaced
The bandshell is going up near a structure that already has a long history with a service club. The city's facility listing puts the Sheridan Meadows Lions Shelter at 851 N. 1st St. The Eldridge Lions Club's history says the club was chartered on June 15, 1953, and that in 2010 its members put up windscreens at the Sheridan Meadows Park shelter.
The plan for the shelter is a repair, not a rebuild. The board had three options to choose from and picked the third, at an estimated $10,500. Under that option, a local company will mudjack the concrete, public works will replace the rotten posts, and the restrooms will be power-washed. Mudjacking lifts sunken slabs back to level by pumping material underneath them, which explains the price: the shelter keeps its existing structure while the pieces that have worn out get fixed.
By next summer, Sheridan Meadows should have a brand-new stage and a repaired shelter next to each other. The money and labor come from two different service clubs, the city and a local bank.
Hickory Creek is on the longest timeline
Across town, the timeline is measured in years. In September 2025, the North Scott Press reported that Eldridge was unveiling trails and native prairie at Hickory Creek Park, 25 years after the city bought the land, which most drivers along Buttermilk Road know for its soccer fields. This fall the park is adding a pollinator patch. The September minutes say the patch has been sprayed and tilled, the wildflower mix will be planted and come up in spring, and it will take "about three years to completely fill in." The bills in the same packet include $1,230 paid to Allendan Seed Company, listed as "WLDFLWR SEED PATCH HICKORY CRK."
Compared with the bandshell's six-figure launch fund, that's a small purchase, and it will probably still be changing long after the stage is done. The first sprouts are expected in spring. The full patch is still about three years out.
Trees are coming along the same paths. April 2026 Park Board minutes record a $3,000 MidAmerican Trees Please! grant, along with approval of up to $5,000 in park funds for trees along the Hickory Creek walking paths. The same minutes describe a separate Lions proposal for a pollinator pad at Sanctuary Gardens, about 120 square feet at an estimated $200. Small plantings like these take a while to show up, and once they're in, they keep growing without much more spending.
Elmegreen's shelter is the one that slipped
Elmegreen Park sits at 164 S. 8th St., according to the city's facility page. The city's parks page lists a playground, a drinking fountain, a shelter and two basketball courts there, and describes the current shelter as having four picnic tables, seating for 24 and a porta-potty on site. If you've planned a birthday party there, you know how small that is.
The plan to replace it goes back a year. In October 2025, the Park Board reviewed an Eldridge Lumber drawing for a new Elmegreen shelter with a restroom, and directed staff to finish the plans and collect quotes. A November 2025 city memo set spring 2026 as the construction target. Spring came and went. By September, two local contractors were reviewing the packaged shelter drawings to work out what they would charge to build it from scratch, with possible action at the October meeting. The October 13 Park Board agenda listed the Elmegreen shelter proposal for "review and possible award of contract."
The minutes also mention a funding source that could shape what comes next. Riverboat Grants were opening that month, and the Park Board will be able to apply.
When each change will show up
| Park | Work underway | When you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| Sheridan Meadows | Fill dirt and concrete foundation for The Venue, the Rotary bandshell | Earthwork this fall, full lawn by next summer, construction done by June |
| Sheridan Meadows | Lions Shelter repair plan: mudjack concrete, replace posts, power-wash restrooms | Approved in September at about $10,500 |
| Hickory Creek | Pollinator patch sprayed and tilled, wildflower mix to be planted | First growth in spring, about three years to fill in |
| Hickory Creek | Trees funded along the walking paths | Approved in April with a $3,000 Trees Please! grant |
| Elmegreen | New shelter, with a restroom in the 2025 plans | Original spring 2026 target missed; contract on the October 13 agenda |
Put together, the projects arrive in stages. Wildflowers sprout first at Hickory Creek, then the Sheridan Meadows stage is finished by June, then the prairie fills in over the following seasons. Elmegreen's timing depends on what the Park Board does with the contractor bids.
If you want to know how projects like the Sheridan Meadows bandshell or the Elmegreen shelter affect the streets around them, or you have questions about your own Eldridge home, the team at Rainmaker Collective is happy to talk. We follow these Park Board agendas too, and we'll give you a straight local answer.
