Jeanne Mance Park

150 Canada Playground Badge (1)

This is another park that I’ve been (not very patiently) waiting to visit. The playground was completely redone in the fall of 2015, but not until quite late in the season so we didn’t have a chance to play before snowflakes fell. 
I was in the area this past February and trekked down the frozen path, waved at the policemen on horseback patrolling the park (cool!), and took a couple of pictures. There were some new-to-the-market products, so we were pretty eager to come back once the weather was nice. 
Fast forward to mid-June, and we finally made it. And it’s really good. 

The best part is all the new and innovative products. We’ve seen a LOT of parks (almost 450 as I write this) and it’s rare to see new-to-us equipment, so if you’re also looking for something unique, this is the spot. When your kids go “OoooOOOoooh, what is THAT?!” you know it’s going to be good! A collaborative effort involving some of Quebec’s best playground developers including ABC Récréation, Imagineo, and Tessier Récréo-Parc; the playground areas really work

The big-kid area is all on mulch and has some funky and modern equipment. There was good shade over this area, actually TOO good, as it was super hard to take pictures with the bright sky and the dark shade; but I think mid-morning/afternoon it’s probably quite sunny. 
There’s a lot to do and explore here. Six adult swings, TWO modern metal climbers from Kompan with very challenging ladders and a rock-climbing wall, and the other has the little “hammocks” to lie on, or climb up the myriad of ropes. 
Need more ropes? Just beside is Berliner’s rope obstacle course, and there’s also the Arche from Corocord. The kids were curious about the “fat rope” and then puzzled out a way to climb up and over it. The designers also left some natural stone peeking out from the path which makes for an interesting climbing/balancing/crawling element. 
If they’re still not tired, try out the balance board, or the Cloud 9 saucer swing. “No mommy, it is not a swing, it is a bird nest.”
Alrighty then.
The concrete pathway around this section dips down into the mulch, making it more accessible, there just isn’t all that much to DO for kids with mobility issues. However, follow the path and tucked into a corner are giant vertical chimes with four mallets. You can watch a video HERE

Walk up the new path, and spread out into little rooms is the fenced and gated toddler section. All the spaces are on sand, and were almost completely shaded thanks to the mature trees throughout. I had to go around and pick up stray beer bottles and some trash before letting the boys loose, so there’s obviously some partying going on here over night. And there’s also some bits of graffiti popping up 🙁

Kids won’t know where to start once they walk in.
The little section with the sand tables, bowl spinners and mini hammocks? 
The sand box with the very, very cool concrete contour lines representing the topography of Mount Royal? (You have to see it to know what I mean)
The AWESOME Eibe water table where they can turn the wheel to start the flow of water and then use the plugs and diverters?
Or, the larger section which has a balance board, Berliner’s little house from their Greenville line, the 3-kid Blazer see saw, or the climber from Landscape Structures with its wooden waves and stainless steel slide? 
Oh , wait. One more! There’s also the Swirl musical chimes mounted at perfect toddler height (and which are also accessible).

Whew. 

Some things that I’d like to see:
-More tables and benches. There are very, very few near the play areas. Actually, there’s basically nowhere to sit at all except for the tables off in the wooded area closer to the road. 
-Cleaner bathrooms. Good God. (Once the wading pool opens these might be a better bet than the one on Duluth and Parc)
-An accessible swing. And baby swings (there are none)

Notes:
We were at the park around 8am on a weekday and while we were the ONLY ones there, this park gets very, very busy during the day and on weekends. And while we were the only ones in the playground, the park was already active with joggers and commuters up and down the paths. 

I was able to find metered street parking right on Avenue Duluth (the playground is closest to Parc and Duluth), and there may be additional street parking on the surroundings streets like de l’Esplanade, or even Saint-Urbain. Like always, Montreal parking is a b*tch, so I wish you the best of luck! Sorry. 

The wading pool is closed for the entire 2021 season The wading pool which is just north of the toddler playground is scheduled to open on June 19th (until August 20th) 2017 from 10am to 6pm, which will possibly make the park even more crowded. 
You can find all the information for the borough’s pools, wading pools and splash pads (their dates and hours of operation) at THIS LINK

Want to spend a while here, but getting hungry? I suggest visiting one of the food trucks that *may* be across Avenue du Parc at the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument at Parc Mont Royal. You can see the food truck schedule HERE. On Sunday afternoons you can also watch Montreal’s famous Tam Tams. If you’ve still got energy, hike (or drive) up Mount Royal where you can see Salamander Park and the Montreal lookout. You can read our review of both of those HERE

Another great food spot is Café Santropol on the corner of Duluth and Saint-Urbain, about one block away from the playground. My favourite? The Santropol garden tea and the Sweet Roots sandwich. 

This makes a pretty great destination park for locals, and is a nice oasis for tourists visiting the city with their kids. 

4 Comments

  • Marie-Pier says:

    Très très beau site! Très inspirant et beaucoup d’info pratique! Félicitations! Je vais les garder dans mes favoris!

  • Andrea Haid says:

    Looove Jeanne Mance park! Thanks for the awesome review. I can never find the hours of any swimming or wading pools on those city websites for some reason. I followed the link you shared and maybe I’m just missing something? Although the wading pools around the city seem to have long hours which is great! I was at this park today (July 6) but the Eibe water table is still waterless. I wonder if it will get turned on this year. I think the food trucks have moved to a new location this year. Boo. But it really is an awesome park with so much to do! Can’t complain.

    • StrollerMom says:

      Hello!
      The link for the wading pools had another link within it (changed from last year), so I put the more direct link now. The city has the hours as 10-6 everyday, but it’s only open until August 20th. It’s tricky because each borough of Montreal handles their websites differently with info all over the place.
      Not sure why the water table wasn’t on!
      I also changed the link for the food trucks, as they move around every day.
      I hope you have fun exploring more parks this summer 🙂

  • tematis says:

    Bravo pour cet article.

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