Other activities such as ice cream socials, art festivals, and park recreation programs draw people together. Local specialty shops, supermarkets, restaurants, retail shops, banks, and medical and dental clinics provide for daily needs. Major shopping centers are within twenty miles. Also close at hand is the Star Plaza Theatre, the performance home of the Northwest Indiana Symphony and stage for a variety of big name entertainment. With Chicago less than an hour away, Gary-Hammond thirty minutes, and Lafayette seventy miles, many residents combine city employment with small town or country living.
Many families enjoy the rural life on small acreages with horses or other farm animals.
A large variety of recreational opportunities are right at the doorstep of south Lake County. Residents enjoy boating, fishing, and skiing on local lakes and golf on both public and private courses. Lowell's six city parks offer lighted tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball fields and a children's fishing pond. For cross country skiing, boating, fishing, or hiking, residents can choose between ten Lake County parks or the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan, an hour away. The 950 acre Grand Kankakee Marsh along the historic Kankakee River and Buckley Homestead, a living history farm, are two of the most unusual county parks.