Pond tour next two weeks in the Chicago area

[CometKeith]

If any of you line within driving distance to Chicago the Midwest Koi and Pond Society is having their pond tour this weekend and next. I am not a member, but bought the tour book last year and let my gps guide me from location to location. Some of the ponds I saw were absolutely amazing. Two of the best ones I saw were people that converted their swimming pools into ponds! This is their website: http://www.mpks.org/calendar/pond_tour.htm and it gives you information where can buy the pond tour book. The book acts as your ticket and allows you admission to any of the sites. They have it set up by region and you can literally spend the entire day in each of the regions because there are so many to see.

 

[addy1]

How neat, would love to but that would be one long drive to get there.

 

[j.w]

Would be nice. Wish they had something like that around here

 

[digginponds]

If any of you line within driving distance to Chicago the Midwest Koi and Pond Society is having their pond tour this weekend and next. I am not a member, but bought the tour book last year and let my gps guide me from location to location. Some of the ponds I saw were absolutely amazing. Two of the best ones I saw were people that converted their swimming pools into ponds! This is their website: http://www.mpks.org/calendar/pond_tour.htm and it gives you information where can buy the pond tour book. The book acts as your ticket and allows you admission to any of the sites. They have it set up by region and you can literally spend the entire day in each of the regions because there are so many to see.

:regular_waving_emot

 

[CometKeith]

I went on Saturday and saw 4 ponds. These are pictures of Bob and Martha Loughman's pond. He says pictures of it have ended up in Crain's Chicago, Drs. Foster and Smith and other places without him knowing how it happened! At least he will get credit here. It is a wonderful pond with two waterfalls. He used 50 tons of boulders and rocks from the Ozarks. It is 7000 gallons and measures 44 ft x 20 ft and has 39 koi and 5 golden orfs and has a tree canope giving it shade and protection from predators. Also interestingly he says it was built in two weeks!

 

[j.w]

Very beautiful pond and love the natural setting and built in 2 weeks, wow..........somebody really knew what they were doing

 

[taherrmann4]

That is a nice pond, but hard to believe it is only 7,000 gallons, looks a lot bigger than that. Is that small rocks in the bottom of it?

 

[fishin4cars]

By those measurements (44x20) if it was 1' deep it would be 6600 gallons at 2' deep is 13,200 gallons, I'm betting it's even deeper than that. Very nice pond though!

 

[CometKeith]

The pond varies from 2 to 3 feet at the deepest part. The shape is very irregular so it may be accurate as to the volume. Bob does have rocks on the bottom, but his water is very clear and he does frequent water changes. He designed it himself and had someone with a lot of pond building experience come in with a crew to build it. His goal was to make it look as natural as possible and I think he achieved his desired effect!

 

[CometKeith]

Here a few more pictures of ponds I saw last week.

 

[addy1]

Very nice thanks for sharing!

 

[digginponds]

Most people may not know this but Illinois is the largest pond producing area in the USA and world. We may have a short [pond season], but we know how to appreciate the time spent outdoors, I suppose. lol
Thanks for sharing.

 

[sissy]

those are some nice ponds and that tour must be interesting and a lot of fun .

 

[CometKeith]

I was hoping to go last weekend too but had too much stuff to do around the house. It's a shame that I only got to see 4 ponds of the probably 50 or 60 ponds available for viewing over the two weeks. It's amazing how nice people are when you come visit and they are willing to share with you all the details how it was built. I visited a home with a really nice 4000 gallon pond last year with really beautiful fish and they said they went on the pond tour for 6 years and learned everything they could before they built that pond.

 

[j.w]

Those ponds are so big and pretty. Bet it's fun to go on pond tours and see the way each person has them designed to their liking and property conditions. Would be nice if a neighborhood could be designed so that everyone had a pond in it. Maybe a new law in this whole country............Everyone must have a pond! Would be grand at least in my dreams. Could do pond tours til the end of time...............would be glorious