Are you planning a trip to Bloomington? If yes, you need to consider the things to do in Bloomington!
Bloomington is famous for its hospitality and captivating tourist attractions in central Illinois. You will find the city more bustling because Bloomington has an 80,000 metropolitan population, which is the reason its hustle and bustle.
However, you can spend quality time visiting museums, parks, amusement and historical places. On the other hand, you can also visit McLean County if you got inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s career. It was a courthouse that turned into a historical museum exhibiting Lincoln’s Bloomington connections.
Visitors can also take a tour of the Spectacular Victorian home of David Davis.
Things to Do in Bloomington, IL
Here are the details of several things to do in Bloomington, IL!
1- Enjoy Illinois Shakespeare Festival
The Ewing Theatre holds the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Bloomington has been celebrating this festival since 1978, and it will celebrate its 44th festival in 2022. The festival starts at the end of June ends in mid-August.
This festival in Bloomington is famous for disclosing its Arts theaters and Bloomington’s outdoor Ewing Theatre. The name of the festival is Shakespeare festival because it presents a major cultural festival performing the works of William Shakespeare. The festival takes place in a beautiful landscape spot kept by Jens Jensen.
2- Enjoy Family time at Tipton Park
Tipton Park is a family spot for recreation and other outdoor activities spanning over 50 acres of land. Visitors can enjoy family panic in the picnic area in a beautiful landscape area. Several other things grab tourist attractions, including walking trails, baseball fields, splash water parks, and playgrounds in the park.
The splash water park is designed for kids to enjoy several water-based activities. You will also find a soccer field, basketball court, and softball diamond for other sports activities. In short, it is a lovely green landscape that looks like a natural prairie with some walking and fishing areas.
3- Amuse Yourself at TiGrady’s Family Fun Park
The park contains almost everything for a family, just like an amusement park, and becomes a family activity center. Visitors can enjoy its small carnival rides, including an arcade, boats, batting cages, baseball, mini-golf, bumper boats, and go-carts. You can also take advantage of the wristband to take multiple rides. The overall environment in the park is clean, where you can also find some eatables like pizza, funnel cake, root beer, and lemon shakes.
4- Buy Something from Downtown Bloomington Farmers’ Market
There is always bustling in the market where you can find several vendors. It is the best farmers’ market where you can find freshly baked eatables, vegetables, fruits, honey, popcorns, and crafts. The market is well-known for apples and peaches in their season, or you can also get egg and meat there.
Its locally produced things are some of the best things to try there. It is where local vendors bring their fresh and delicious products from the different regions of Illinois. You can also find certified organic farmers in the market. So, never miss buying something delicious for yourself while passing through the market.
5- Visit 3rd Sunday Market Bloomington
The 3rd Sunday market Bloomington is one of the best markets in central Illinois known for decades of buying and selling there. Visitors can find different kinds of crafty stuff, including flea markets, antiques, vintage cast iron, or other cool things. On the other hand, you can find other items used for daily life such as jewelry, toys, glassware, and furniture. It is an extensive property with lots of vendors where you have to pay $6 to enter the market. So, visit this market if you want something antique.
6- Explore Aircraft in The Prairie Aviation Museum
It is a place to explore some antique aircraft in Airpark present on the eastern side of Bloomington. Visitors can watch the older Vietnam wartime aircraft in the Aviation Museum. You can visit the museum if you want to see some plans were at one time in flight.
The museum is not larger at all, and it has connections with Atlanta, Chicago, and Orlando. There is a small but captivating fleet of aircraft based on an outdoor airpark and hangers. They have a unique collection of aircraft, including UH-1H Iroquois, F-14 Tomcat, Bell Sea Cobra, and A-4 Skyhawk.
7- Visit Evergreen Memorial Cemetery
It is a historic Cemetery present for more than 200 years ago back to the Euro-American settlement time in Illinois. Primarily these were two different cemeteries and merged because they were closer to each other. One of the first cemeteries is present from 1850, while the other came into existence in 1850. It is clean, beautiful, and full of historical background expanding over 87 acres with traced large trees.
Visitors wonder if some of the oldest graves are still how they are in good shape. You can also visit the entire cemetery by walking or biking. Visitors can see the resting place of David Davis, senators, representatives, and cabinets.
8- Enjoy Skating at The Bloomington Ice Center
The Bloomington Ice Center is a public ice rink close to the Bloomington Parks & Recreation Department. It is a decent and safe site and easy to access. You can also learn skating if you are a beginner at skating. The staff are dedicated, professional, helpful, and sweet and teach you smoothly.
It also offers the best atmosphere and environment where heaters are placed above the bleacher seats. Besides skating, you can enjoy watching the local league playoff hockey game. Visitors are also free to attend a free skate session.
9- Take A Tour at The Grossinger Motors Arena
This space is a multi-functional area established in 2006, located in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. This site is known for holding concerts, events, and sports activities.
The Grossing Motors Arena can manage 5,550 persons during the sports activity and 8000 people for concerts. Visitors can spend several hours in Arena on comfortable seats. You must check to review its calendar before getting to Arena, check for the trade show, motorsports, concerts, family entertainments, and join the event of your choice.
10- Learn History at Funk Prairie Home & Gem & Mineral Museum
The museum is a striking hidden gem of Bloomington where you can spend quality time learning the antiquity of that area. The people are managing the museum are also passionate about their work, and they can explain anything you ask about the history. The museum contains an impressive collection of rocks, fossils, minerals, and farming equipment. It is a piece of 19th century Illinois when human activities started in this Illinois.
Visitors can also take a tour at the Funk Prairie Home, where you must make a prior appointment. The Prairie Home was founded in 1864 by Lafayette Funk when he gifted this home to his bride Elizabeth. The Prairie home was filled with interesting Funk family curios while its anterior retained furnishing and decors.
11- Visit Children’s Discovery Museum Illinois
It is a three-story building to interact with kids with three stories of education, science, and engineering. The exhibits are prepared carefully in the museum, offering open-ended, rewarding, and manifold learning adventures.
The museum also manages early childhood programs and an innovative environment where kids and adults can watch STEAM concepts through erecting teamwork and experiments. You need 3 hours there to learn whether you bring a child or an adult to the museum.
12- Walk along the Constitution Trail
It is a 37-mile trail system formed by the two different communities, Bloomington and Normal. This route leads to the Illinois Central Gulf railroad Kerrick Road from Normal to Grove Street in Bloomington.
Walkers, bikers, and joggers mostly love these pathways. The whole trail also contains some restrooms, water fountains, and benches. Moreover, some historical points reside, like Normal’s Camelback Bridge (1862).
13- Visit Miller Park Zoo
It is a Zoo located in Miller Park, a public park in Bloomington where Zoo was established in 1900. New exhibits were added to extend the Zoo area from 1990 to 2000. Visitors can visit the Zoo Lab, where you can see the historic Katthoefer Animal Building, exotic insects, Meerkats, holding snow leopards, snakes, Sumatran tigers, and tamarins. While outside the lab, you can watch the Red Pandas, alligators, otters, Galapagos tortoises, a wealth of birds, eagles, hawks, and hooded cranes.
On the other hand, Miller Park provides all the facilitations to its visitors. You can also find a mini-golf course, splash pad, and boats in the lake in Summers.
14- Watch Local History at McLean County Museum of History
It is one of the excellent places to learn the local history surrounding several historic buildings. The McLean County Museum is known for the Classical Revival courthouse’s dome. The museum reveals the intrinsic connection between military history, commercial and industrial history, political and military history, immigration, and Native American heritage.
McLean County discloses the formation of the new Republican Party and Lincoln’s work as an attorney in the anti-slavery movement in the state. You can learn the local history, and it is also the best place for geology research.
15- David Davis Mansion State Historic Site
David Davis Mansion state is a Victorian home in Bloomington, the Clover Lawn. It was a courthouse from 1862 to 1877 when David Davis played the perfect role in the history of this museum in the 19th century. There are 36 rooms with several outbuildings with a lovely renovated flower garden.
Visitors can see 20 rooms featured with American Renaissance furniture bought by Sarah David. The building also holds several events, like special gaslight tours at Christmas and garden festivals.
