Sunrise Beach Is Getting a Winter Season, Starting With a Sauna

Sunrise Beach closed for swimming on September 8. Its sign says swimming is prohibited when lifeguards are not on duty, and lifeguards will not be back until next summer. A month later, the Lake Bluff Park District Board voted to put a wood-fired sauna on that same sand from September through May.

So the sauna's season starts as the swimming season ends. This winter Sunrise Beach also becomes a field site for a state-funded erosion study, so the months when the lakefront usually sits empty are filling with plans. Here is what has been decided, what is still open, and what a winter afternoon on the north end could look like once it is all in place.

What the Board actually approved on October 5

The idea came from the operator. Campfire Sauna and Social, which already runs a sauna for the Wilmette Park District, contacted Lake Bluff staff about expanding to more North Shore communities. On September 24, the Facilities & Programs Committee took it up as a discussion item. The proposal was a mobile, wood-fired sauna at Sunrise Beach from September through May. Campfire would handle personnel, scheduling, safety procedures, insurance and maintenance.

The committee recommended approval. At a special meeting on October 5, Commissioner Welles moved to approve the partnership "for a wood-fired sauna at Sunrise Beach from September through May, pending execution of definitive written agreements." The motion passed with five ayes, one abstention and one commissioner absent. That record comes from the draft minutes of the special meeting, which appear in the October 19 board packet.

According to those minutes, the deal works like this:

The vendor's presentation in the September 24 committee packet proposes regular hours of four days a week, five to six hours a day. Commissioner Grum compared the setup to the train station leasing space to a coffee shop. He also pointed out that private groups already operate on Park District property, including baseball, GolfVisions, 5-Star Athletics and last summer's beach food trucks.

Why there is no opening date yet

The October 5 vote let staff move forward, but it was not the last step. The minutes list what still has to happen:

1. Definitive written agreements. The motion depends on them.
2. Outside review. Commissioner Beeler noted that the proposal still needs review by legal counsel, PDRMA and the Village.
3. A site visit. Executive Director Bealer said he and Village Administrator Drew Irvin planned to go to Wilmette and see the working unit.
4. Building the sauna. Campfire's representative said each unit is custom-made, with a lead time of two to four months.

Timing matters more than usual here. The minutes note that waiting even two weeks to approve could affect when the unit gets ordered. The September-through-May season has already started on paper. The two-to-four-month build begins once a unit is ordered, so how much of this first winter the sauna catches depends on how quickly the paperwork clears. No rent amount or revenue share was recorded. Board President Greenfield said the District usually earns at least 10 to 15 percent from its amenities, but the minutes do not show that figure being adopted for the sauna.

Wilmette shows what the sessions look like

Since no Lake Bluff details have been published, Gillson Beach is the best preview. The Record North Shore reported in July 2025 that Campfire's standard sessions run 50 minutes, that a full unit holds 10 to 12 people, and that reservations go through the company's website. In a November 2025 follow-up, the outlet reported that the sauna opened after Labor Day, on September 5, in parking spaces near Gillson's south beach. Under its contract it later moved to the main parking lot.

That move is useful context for Lake Bluff, where the north end is only staff's preferred spot so far. Where a unit sits on a public beach can change after opening.

Campfire's website lists its Gillson location on Overlook Drive. Current prices are $40 for a single 50-minute session, $175 for a five-pack and $300 for a ten-pack. Those are Wilmette prices. Lake Bluff has not posted rates.

Heat, then fresh air, with no plunge

Saunas on cold lakes call up images of a jump into the water, and the October 5 minutes include Commissioner Welles's remark that "there are many residents who swim year around in Lake Bluff."

The rule posted on the Park District's Sunrise Park & Beach page still applies all winter, though. Swimming is prohibited whenever lifeguards are off duty, and the guarded season ended September 8. Campfire's own Wilmette waiver also bars entering Lake Michigan during or after a session unless the park district allows it. The company describes cooling down outdoors and repeating the heat-and-cool cycle two to three times. So under current rules, a winter session means heat inside, then cold air and a long view of the water from the sand.

The other usual beach rules stay in place. Residents use the beach free with a Park District pass or a state photo ID showing a Lake Bluff address. The beach closes nightly at 10 p.m. Dog tags work only at the dog beach on the north end. If the sauna goes where staff suggested, it will sit at the same end as the dog beach.

The first winter amenity that doesn't wait for the cold

Lake Bluff's other outdoor winter staple runs on the weather. The Artesian Park rink opens only after about five nights in the low 20s or teens with no snow, and only once the ice is about four inches thick. Rain, snow on thin ice, or footprints across a freezing surface can all push the opening back. On a good stretch the rink runs 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., with lights from 4 p.m.

The sauna has none of those conditions. Under the proposal it runs on a fixed calendar, four days a week, from the end of the swim season until the next one begins. That makes it the first lakefront amenity in the village built for the months when the beach is empty.

Engineers arrive this winter too

The sauna is not the only plan for Sunrise Beach this off-season. In the Executive Director's July 2026 report to the Board, the Park District said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources had awarded a $130,000 grant for an extensive erosion study of the beach. The grant has no local match requirement. At its August 17 meeting, the Board approved W. F. Baird & Associates' $130,000 proposal and authorized the contract to be signed once the IDNR grant is executed.

At that same meeting, Baird's Rory Agnew laid out a projected schedule that puts most of the work in the coldest months:

• November: field investigation
• November and December: coastal analysis
• December through March: preliminary engineering and concept development
• March 2027: wrap-up

That schedule depends on paperwork as well. The October 19 packet says Baird's contract will be signed once the final IDNR agreement arrives. Staff rewrote and resubmitted the application after Baird flagged that one task, analyzing the subsurface under the lake-bed sediment, might trigger a federal review.

What the study is for

The erosion study feeds the updated Sunrise Park & Beach Master Plan, which the Board approved at its August 3 special meeting. The plan is a long-range roadmap, not a construction schedule. The Park District's master plan notice says improvements will be made "only when funding is available."

The plan drawing includes dog-beach work: debris removal, fencing, gates, sand and a path, all subject to the erosion-control study. It also shows new native plantings, an ADA access mat, an interpretive exhibit and an accessible path.

Taken together, the north end could see Baird's field crews in November, a 20-by-7-foot sauna once the agreements clear and the unit is built, and the study results by March that decide what happens to the dog beach next.

People choose a North Shore home partly for small rituals like a winter walk along the lake, and the way a home shows off that setting is a big part of how it sells. If you'd like to talk about how your home's connection to the lakefront should come through when it goes to market, Kim & Carleigh Team would be glad to help. Schedule a design-forward consultation.