Percy-Walters Park

After dropping off the two big boys downtown for their Tour de l’Île adventure, the toddler and I were in need of a park until we got the “pick us up!” call. Percy-Walters Park has been on my list for a while, so it was the perfect opportunity to see what this playground in the heart of downtown had to offer. 
I always wonder why there aren’t any playgrounds near hotels, or in the downtown area, because I see children, and there are tourists and visitors, but just no safe outdoor place to play. This spot is probably the closest to the downtown centre that we’ve seen, and is close to some of Montreal’s great cultural attractions like the The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Mount Royal, and near some top hotels like the Ritz, Sofitel, and Omni. 

After parking on Avenue du Docteur-Penfield, directly in front of the park gates we were pleasantly surprised to find some fairly new play structures from GameTime, and our most favourite thing: The large wooden toy box filled with sand toys, trucks, balls and more provided by the Families of Percy-Walters Park Association. Love, love this. If you’re from out of town, you’ve got toys to play with, and even if you’re local like us, kids always enjoy playing with new things. Just be sure to put everything back in the box when you’re done!

There are two separate areas here (both on sand); 18 months-5 years, and 5-12 years and we tried out the equipment on both sides. The toddler climber has easy to access stairs, slides, ladders, a crawl tunnel, and ground-level activities like bongos, and wall gizmos. Spin, turn, and bang your little heart out!
Just beside is the rope, stump, ladder, and monkey bar obstacle course that proved juuuuust a bit too challenging for a 3 year old. But he tried! 
If you’re needing a break there are a trio of picnic tables beside what was described to me as “the sketchy bathroom”. We didn’t go in to see for ourselves so I’ll take their word for it. 

While we were there we met the nicest couple and their daughters who told us how the small slope is used in the winter for sledding, and about the sometimes contentious relationship between users of the playground and the fully-fenced dog park above. A quick Google search came up with a whole slew of articles about the construction of the dog area, paths etc. I don’t have a dog, but we’ve seen quite a few dog runs in our travels, and this one is probably the nicest we’ve seen. 

Ville Marie and the Families of Percy-Walters Park Association host various events throughout the year including a corn roast, sugar shack, and Movie-in-the-Park. You can find the events HERE

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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