Maynard-Ferguson Park

Named in honour of Verdun-born Maynard Ferguson, a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader, this beautiful park has an inspiring jazz theme complete with a colourful rubber base of musical notes and piano keys from Quebec-based Carpell Surfaces . 

This park will check off a lot of boxes for people.

  • There are two really creative and never before seen (by us!) play structures.
  • The playground equipment is on rubber flooring. 
  • It’s fenced (but not gated)
  • There’s a great splash pad right beside the play areas. 
  • It’s all wheelchair accessible and inclusive. 
  • It has a recurring theme throughout. 
  • It connects to bike and walking trails. 
  • There’s an outdoor adult gym nearby (overlooking the water, beautiful).
  • There’s a boardwalk (I lurve boardwalks)
  • It has a great riverside location and an area with picnic tables for snacks-with-a-view. 
  • It’s super fun for everyone, toddlers AND big-kids, AND parents!

We drove past the fountain on Chemin de la Pointe-Sud and I felt like someone might stop us as it feels like a gated community! So fancy!

Parking is available on the street right in front of the park but read the signs carefully as they have all sorts of restrictions. 
The playground is fully fenced and encompasses the play areas and the splash pad, but NOT the swings, which are just outside of the enclosure. Look closely and you’ll notice the musical theme on the floor. (Side note: I found this park by doing a Google Satellite zoom over Nun’s Island looking for interesting spots. This one really stuck out!)
And while it is fenced, they either forgot the FOUR gates, or figured they weren’t needed. Too bad.

The play equipment is fantastic and was designed with both little and big kids in mind. The smaller structure by GameTime’s Xscape line is low to the ground and doesn’t have any platforms to climb, rather there are rings to crawl through, small ladders, ABC/rock/bubble climbing walls, a rope bridge; and for wheelchair-bound children or those with reduced mobility there are bongos, and ground-level activities scattered around. GameTime creates the Xscape line as fitness-based play/an outdoor gymnasium and it’s a nice change from the stairs-platform-slide combos. 
You’ll also find stand and sit spinners, a small slide with a staircase, and down a few steps is the only sand area that also has the cutest mushroom table and stools.  

For big-kids (or adventurous little ones) there is an impressively elaborate rope/net climber. This one has metal rails, a small wall to climb, and tons and tons of ropes for hands to hold. My little one made himself a nest and went for a pretend snooze 🙂

We then checked out the splash pad (which was still on in early September.) It’s just steps from the play equipment so there are good sight lines between kids playing in the water and those still on the equipment. (Of course watch for those open gates)

There’s an easy to spot “magic button” that turns on all the sprayers. The equipment by Pointe-Claire based Vortex includes beautiful spinning flowers and dumping buckets (the Flower Nº5), four leaves that have gentle mist, some toddler-friendly sprays, and a tall flower (Aqualien Power Flower N°1) that acts like an umbrella, dripping water to the ground below. It’s nicely spaced out so there shouldn’t be kids getting run over, and it’s not too overwhelming for first-time splash pad-ers. The flooring here is concrete but with strips of rubber going widthwise. It’s all very pretty.

There are benches within the fencing, though not many near the water area, but just outside the fence is a trio of benches as well as a couple of picnic tables. After taking a picture, we noticed the wooden steps going down to into the woods. They connect to a boardwalk that goes a little bit through the forest and then opens onto the bike/walking trail that circles most of the island, a large outdoor adult exercise area from TrekFit, and to a spot with more benches and tables overlooking the water. We watched someone fishing, and some really eager grown ups working out in the gym. 

We really, really liked this park and despite leaving Pointe Claire right around rush hour (8:30am) it only took us about 30 minutes of travel. Going back home, another matter. Always listen to the GPS instead of thinking “that can’t be right, I’ll use this turn off of the roundabout instead”, because you’ll end up driving to downtown. Argh!

p.s. the only thing missing here is an adaptive swing. 

Verdun (Nun’s Island) – Maynard-Ferguson Park Splash Pad from StrollerMom on Vimeo.

Feature
Toddler park (2-5)
Fenced toddler park
Baby swings
Big kid park (5-12)
Big kid swings
Parking lot
Street parking
Shade
Water fountain
Picnic tables
Benches
Seasonal Bathrooms
Green space
Soccer fields
Baseball field
Tennis courts
Basketball
Splash pad
Pool
Reduced mobility swings
Dep nearby

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