It’s apropos that the new new splash pad recently opened at Oscar Peterson Park is music-themed, with Waterplay Solutions towering musicians and a colourfully painted grand piano base. The park was renamed in 2009 after the great Canadian jazz pianist, who grew up in this Little Burgundy neighbourhood.
Not only is the splash pad new, but so is most of the park, with a year-long renovation just finishing up. A new soccer field (almost completed), brand new basketball courts, the splash pad, new benches, picnic tables and landscaping. And while the playgrounds still have the same equipment, that equipment is big and creative. (Though rather dirty and could use a pressure wash!)
After circling and circling for about 10 minutes to find a parking spot, we finally got one a few blocks away, only to have a nice pedestrian tell me you can’t park in front of the yellow paint on the curb, even if there’s no sign. Really?
So, back in the car, and we went round and round some more and found something even further away.
Thankfully, this park was totally worth the hassle.
The playgrounds are beautifully shaded by giant trees, and the scent of the new cedar chips under the picnic tables was heavenly. Curiously, the actual playground equipment is still on sand, some very bare in spots.
The two sections are separated by what was formerly a wading pool, and is now a grass area. There are still concrete stairs leading up to the playgrounds.
The Playworld play structure on the big-kid side has all sorts of ladders and rungs, slides, and a moving bridge. There are also adult swings, and some colourful pods to jump across.
Dance across the grass to the toddler section and there are two play structures, cheery metal spring riders, and the super cute triple bumper cars Speedy Racetrack.
Both toddler structures have stairs, and there are ladders, a bridge, various slides, and crawl tunnels. Baby swings are just beside and the whole place is wonderfully shaded. There is fencing along the road, but no gates, and the playground is open to the rest of the park.
Just north of the playground is the new splash pad. I LOVE seeing new products, and we’ve only come across one other local park with Waterplay’s JamSession collection. (You can see that park HERE.)
The large water area has tons of ground jets of various heights and pressure, the pulsing Pop-It that makes me laugh everytime while watching the stream of water randomly burst out of the ground, and the towering and impressive Kokospilli dudes who spray water from their instruments and legs.
There are TWO activators here, so make sure to press both if you also want to spray your kids with the water cannons (Ha!)
There’s no fencing, but it is back from the road a bit, and behind the chalet (which wasn’t open unfortunately.)
The whole park has a pretty nice view of downtown Montreal (though not as impressive as THIS PARK, which I highly suggest you visit!)
The basketball courts are gorgeous and clean, and have lots of seating. There is also a new soccer field and a ping pong table.
We were throughly impressed with this park and could have stayed longer, but our hard-fought-for parking spot was about to become a no-parking spot. Argh!
Things to note: The splash pad water is on daily from 8am-8pm.
Oscar-Peterson Park – Le Sud-Ouest from StrollerMom on Vimeo.