Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau 102 N. Main St. Rockford, IL 61101 (815) 963-8111 (815) 963-4298 (fax) Population 139426 Time Zone Central Latitude/Longitude 42.27° /-89.09° Today's Forecast HIGH: 55 LOW: 37

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Attractions

The city's revitalized downtown showcases a riverfront festival park, museum campus, and a mix of offices interspersed with theaters, concert halls, galleries, shops, restaurants and bistros. The shopping district along East State Street burgeons with major big-box stores and local shops. On Rockford's north and northwest sides, the hugely popular Sportscore Complexes (One and Two), which host national and regional soccer and softball tournaments, have earned the city a reputation among athletes for the high calibre of its recreational facilities.

On the west bank of the Rock River downtown, the Riverfront Museum Park is home to the Discovery Center Museum (a top-rated children's museum with hands-on science exhibits) and the Rockford Art Museum (Illinois' second largest public art museum). The adjacent Burpee Museum of Natural History showcases zoology, geology and prehistory exhibits, and is connected to the other museums by a pedestrian tunnel.

Rockford has been dubbed the "Forest City" and the "Garden City" because of its thousands of acres of parks and forest preserves. The 150 acres of the Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden boasts more than 400 species of trees, shrubs and flowers. Anderson Japanese Garden is touted as one of two of the finest such gardens in North America. Sinnissippi Gardens, on the east bank of the Rock River, also offers formal gardens, greenhouses, and a lagoon as well as access to the 10-mile Rock River Recreational Path.

The spacious grounds at Midway Village & Museum Center comprise a full-sized replica of a 19th-century Illinois village plus a modern museum with exhibits on Rockford's early industrial history. The Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum is an opulent Victorian replica of a Swiss-style cottage, filled with art and artifacts from the family who built it in 1865. The city's Swedish heritage is limned at the Erlander Home Museum, while the Ethnic Heritage Museum devotes six rooms to the six diverse ethnic groups who settled the area.

High culture is represented by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, who perform at the beautifully restored Coronado Theatre. The New American Theatre professional regional theatre company presents high quality productions of new and classic works. A multitude of events (sports, trade shows, conventions and big-name entertainment) may be found at Rockford's MetroCentre.

Maybe its because so many athletes come here to work out at Sportscore but Rockford is positively crammed with professional spectator sports. The Rock River Raptors of the United Indoor Football League play home games at the MetroCentre, as do the IceHogs of the United Hockey League and the Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association. The RiverHawks of the professional Frontier League enjoy a brand-new baseball stadium which opened in 2006. Racing fans can head to Rockford Speedway, a quarter-mile, high-banked track that hosts NASCAR events. And if that isn't enough, the Rockford Lightning play in the American Indoor Soccer League at the Indoor Sports Center.

For wet and watery summertime fun, head to Magic Waters, one of the nation's largest public water parks, and for a real thrill, drop into The Abyss.

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