We drove by this park about 10 times last year, and always went “nah….” and continued somewhere else. It looked hot, kind of bleak, and just rather uninspired.
Fast forward to this year and there’s a brand new GameTime schooner installed by Tessier Récréo-Parc that gives the park a whole new personality.
Parking along Lakeshore is non-existent, so your best bet is on Avenue Joubert or Tremont. Saunter past the drinking fountain and you’ll come to the toddler area (on sand) and the new boat (on wood chips). They were just finishing up the borders and mulch when we visited in mid-May so it’s probably all complete now.
The boat (we called it a pirate boat of course (and there are Jolly Roger flags), has a bow and….the back part….hang on…..*quick Google search*….the stern(!), and both are climbable with hand and foot holds. Unfortunately, to get up to the platform with its ship’s wheel, slides and telescope, there’s only a tall ladder, and though my 3.5 year old could do it, smaller kids will have a tough time. (We came back in 2019 and I redid the cover picture above but not all of them, sorry!)
Just across the path are the big-kid swings, a small arc ladder with ropes, a 3-kid Blazer seesaw, a faded horse spring rider, and another play structure that again has no stairs, but only metal ladders and rungs. I’d love to see this one replaced with something more little-kid friendly.
An older seesaw and four baby swings round out the equipment.
While there are some large trees on one side of the park, I’ll bet there’s zero shade in the afternoon. Which is one of the reasons we’d never stopped before, it just looked too hot. Some trees along the western part of the playground would make a world of difference. Note that there is no fencing around any of the play equipment. And though the playground isn’t necessarily all that close to the road, Lakeshore is a very busy street.
After playing here for a while and steering our ship through all the ports, we trotted across Lakeshore Road to Millennium Park and enjoyed the walking trail, lake view, and the fitness stations.
