Madison Parks

Do you have a younger child (10 and under)? Tot Swim at the Goodman Pool is just for you! Tot Swim is an easy, quieter time for a parent or guardian and child aged 10 years and younger to enjoy the zero-depth area with water features, catch pool and shallow end of the Goodman Pool. Note: The adult must be present for the duration. See GoodmanPool.com Hours & Prices for admission prices, schedule and schedule exceptions.

How about a birthday party this summer at the Goodman Pool? Goodman Pool offers two cabanas are available to reserve (Kegonsa and Mendota - see last photo for cabana names and locations) and located within the Pool grounds. Each offers several picnic tables and a covered area for your small group - up to 45 people. Reserve online.

An individual cabana may be available in the same area on a first-come, first-served basis. Please see staff.

NOTE: Cabana rentals do not include admission to the Pool.

See Reserve at GoodmanPool.com

Park Spotlight: Swallowtail Park! This 3 1/2-acre mini park is located west of Pleasant View Rd and north of Old Sauk Rd. on Madison's far westside. The park offers a reservable gazebo-style shelter, a full-court basketball, multipurpose field with backstop and a playground.

Did you know 95% of Madison residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park? Find the park near you - MADISON PARKS A to Z:
cityofmadison.com/AtoZparks

This Friday night! The Madison Parks Foundation is proud to present multi-platinum producer & DJ, DJ PAIN 1 at The Glen Golf Park on Friday 7/26 @ 7pm!

Get ready to groove and join us for an unforgettable night of hip hop beats! You won't want to miss this!

For more details on upcoming events, visit golfmadisonparks.com

Give it a try! Three free, drop-in MSCR activities are happening this week in celebration of Park & Recreation Month - two adult fitness classes at Garner Park and paddling from Olin Park for ages 10+, with paddlers ages 10-16 accompanied by an adult. For more about these free activities, visit https://bit.ly/3VY1exG

Our Naturalist-in-Residence has another awesome program planned for this weekend - Rustic Floral Arranging at Lakeview Library this Saturday, July 27 from 2-3:30pm!

Alex will teach you how to use the local flowers, herbs, and greenery available outside our front doors to create beautiful floral arrangements that can liven up your interiors without having to purchase cultivated blooms. Registration is required and spots will fill quickly - sign up online at madpl.org/naturalist

Plus, don't miss a mindful Nature Walk with Alex planned for next Tuesday evening from 6-7pm at Owen Conservation Park! Registration is required, sign up online. Madison Parks

Be part of Ride the Drive! Be a vendor or exhibitor at this year's event of the summer - Ride the Drive - on Sunday, August 11. Most fees are waived, so why not take part in the action? Pick a park and register online today! Scroll for number of available spots.

SPOTS AVAILABLE AS OF 7/19:
♦Activity Vendors:
Edward Klief = 6
Brittingham = 5
Olin = 3
Law = 9
Richard R. Wagner = 2
McPike = 2

♦Food Vendors:
Edward Klief = 2
Olin = 3
Law = 1

♦Outreach Vendors:
Edward Klief = 4
Law = 4
Richard R. Wagner = 2

♦Bike Maintenance:
Olin = 1
Law = 1
Richard R. Wagner = 1

RideTheDrive.com/vendors

Due to inclement weather Goodman Pool will be closed for the remainder of the day on Sunday, July 21.

City of Madison Parks Division - Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman Swimming Pool Features 2 waterslides, 8-lane 25-meter lap pool with diving boards and zero depth entry with shallow play features. Pool grounds include a small playground, concessions, changing rooms, deck chairs and loungers, tables and reservable cabanas. Free loaner lifejackets available and programs for all a...

Did you hear the news? We're celebrating 130 years of Madison Parks and you're invited!

Join us this Sunday, July 21 at The Glen Golf Park for the 130 Years of Madison Parks Celebration! With live music, food carts, yard games, and a movie screening on the 9th hole, this celebration promises a fun-filled day for all!

20% proceeds of all food and beverage sales at the clubhouse between 2-4pm will benefit the Madison Parks Foundation.

Visit https://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/events/2024-07-21/130-years-of-madison-parks-celebration to reserve your free tickets now!

DATE: Sunday, July 21
LIVE MUSIC: 2:00pm
YARD GAMES: 4:00pm
MOVIE TIME: 5:00pm
MOVIE: Trolls Band Together

Looking good! Check out the painted futsal and basketball courts at Penn Park. The asphalt courts were painted with an acrylic surface, which provides a smooth, even surface with traction. Bleacher seating was delivered this week and after staff assembling, should be installed this summer.

Futsal is a soccer-based game played typically with 5 players per team on a small hard court with a low-bounce ball. This mini-pitch is the first futsal court in the Madison park system. A $10,000 grant was received from The Soccer Fund of the US Soccer Foundation for the mini-pitch enclosure.

Photos courtesy of Musco Lighting

Park Spotlight: Richmond Hill Park! This 10-acre neighborhood park is located east of I-90 and south of Cottage Grove Rd. The park offers a reservable gazebo-style shelter with picnic tables, tennis courts, a multipurpose field and basketball courts. This park now features a *new* playground that replaced the old playground, was installed by Parks' construction crew! Even with all the rain this season, the playground replacement is completed. See 3rd image.

Did you know 95% of Madison residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park? Find the park near you - MADISON PARKS A to Z:
cityofmadison.com/AtoZparks

Thank you Madison365!

After a hiatus during the pandemic, Ride the Drive set to relaunch and expand with diversity in mind Ride the Drive, a free one-day event highlighting the use of alternative transportation with miles of open streets in Madison is back for the summer of 2024 and organizers say it's going to be bigger…

We're celebrating 130 years of Madison Parks and you're invited!

Join us on Sunday, July 21st at The Glen Golf Park for the 130 Years of Madison Parks Celebration! With live music, food carts, yard games, and a movie screening on the 9th hole, this celebration promises a fun-filled day for all!

20% proceeds of all food and beverage sales at the clubhouse between 2-4pm will benefit the Madison Parks Foundation.

Visit https://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/events/2024-07-21/130-years-of-madison-parks-celebration to reserve your free tickets now!

DATE: Sunday, July 21
LIVE MUSIC: 2:00pm
YARD GAMES: 4:00pm
MOVIE TIME: 5:00pm
MOVIE: Trolls Band Together

We're announcing the lineup of Naturalist-in-Residence programs today in partnership with Madison Parks!

A few weeks ago we introduced you to the 2024 Naturalist, Booker, and his residency titled Find Your Way Back to Nature. The first program in the series will take place this Friday, July 19 from 6-7pm, and gives you the opportunity to come meet Alex in person and learn more about how he chose the theme for this year's residency. Alex's own nature journey began with a gardening program hosted at a local Madison community center, so he wanted his first program to be held at the Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, where he currently serves as the manager. Enjoy a tour of the urban farm as well as a Q&A with the naturalist!

Registration is also open for a program taking place next Tues, July 23 from 6-7pm at Central Library that will explore the art of creating herbal tea blends for medicinal purposes. You'll learn to layer herbs, measure out ratios, and prepare different blends for different ailments - each participant will leave with their own custom tea blend, as well as instructions on how to steep their tea!

Registration is required - sign up at madpl.org/naturalist and see more upcoming programs there, too!

Starting this week, work on the Olbrich Park nature play area advances forward. The week of July 15, if you're in the area you may see crews cutting existing vegetation along the hillside in areas where the slides and climbing features will be installed.

This is necessary in order to prepare for and install these features. Parks construction team will then begin work, likely the week of July 22.

The slides will be installed at a later date due to long lead times from the manufacturer. At this time, the delivery date of the slides is unknown. You can learn more about the project on Parks Projects, Olbrich Park Nature Play Area
cityofmadison.com/parks/projects/olbrich-park-nature-play-area

Cheers to our native wildflowers!🎉 So many reasons to love these wonderful plants. To name a few:

Their deep, fibrous roots clean our water and restore our soil💧
Their leaves feed our native invertebrates, which in turn feed our birds🐛🐦
Their flowers provide nectar for our beloved pollinators🐝🦋
Their presence inspires a sense of place and reverence for this land🪷

Madison parks Ecology team is devoted to both maintaining and planting more of these amazing wildflowers into our general parks every year🌸🌻🌼

You can find all of these species and more blooming now at Door Creek, Olin, Secret Places, Marlborough, Warner Park beach, Raymond Ridge and Eagle Trace Park, to name a few!

Learn more about Parks Land Management: cityofmadison.com/parkslandmanagement

Beat the heat at a splash park -- west - Elver, central - Cypress, east - Reindahl. Open daily through Labor Day, 10am to 8pm and always free to use. See website for more info:
cityofmadison.com/parks/find-a-park/facilities/splashParks.cfm

Ride the Drive returns on Sunday, August 11! Since the first Ride the Drive in 2009, the event continues to celebrate Madison’s commitment to a healthy, active lifestyle focusing on the environmental and economic impacts and the importance of social integration. Ride the Drive is thousands of happy people. Take a peek at the RTD volunteer images throughout the years.

How can you participate in RTD2024? We're recruiting volunteers! Our greatest need is Intersection Guides. Most volunteer shifts are just 2-3 hours, allowing time to enjoy the ven too. Each volunteer receives a RTD t-shirt.

Check out the open positions and register online: RideTheDrive.com

This year's event is no exception and plans to be bigger than ever -- with 6 park hubs.

•Edward Klief Park
•Brittingham Park
•Olin Park
•Law Park
•R. Richard Wagner Park
•McPike Park

Believe us when we say this scene at Esther Beach Park brings us no joy. Data from the last 5 years shows Esther Beach Park has seen the most "failed" water quality testing, performed by Public Health Madison & Dane County (according to 2018-2023 PHMDC data). This week staff were out again, as they are each week, working to clean the swim area water and removing the weed-entangled swim ropes. Due to the winds and weeds, the swim ropes became a tangled mess and were removed. We anticipate these to be re-installed this weekend.

cityofmadison.com/parks/beach

Photos (1-3) taken Tuesday, July 9: Parks staff at work cleaning the water and beach area
Photo (4): a nearly full dumpster
Photo (5-6) Canada goose management: amber strobe light and coyote decoy
Photo (7) taken late morning on Friday, July 12 with Dane County Land & Water Resources Department aquatic plant harvesters in the background.

Curious about Managed Meadows? What's a Managed Meadow? What makes one better and/or managed differently than another? Look for our social post this Sunday evening, when we dive into the three tiers!

cityofmadison.com/parkslandmanagement

Photo: a managed meadow basks in the glow of a sunset over Reston Heights Park

Looking for new places to bike in Dane County?

Check out the Lake Wingra Loop, a 6.5-mile trail featuring natural, historical, and cultural highlights.

We recently completed a map of the route that highlights some of the scenic stops along the way. To view the map, visit https://bit.ly/lake-wingra-loop.

Learn to Nordic Walk! We have room for you! Get ready for winter fun and join Parks staff and MadNorSki volunteers for this free class at Elver Park on Friday, Dec. 8. No snow is required for this event! All ages are welcome.
cityofmadison.com/parks/events/learn-to-nordic-walk

Throughout December we are posting some of our favorite runner-up photos submitted in the Madison Parks photography contest. We're calling this the "You Didn't Win But We Sure Like This One!" category. We'd love to see more from you! cityofmadison.com/parksphotography

View of Olbrich Botanical Gardens' Royal Thai Pavilion by Debbie Knuth

Park Spotlight: Paunack Park! Adjacent to Panack Marsh Conservation Park, this 5 1/2 acre hidden gem is located on Lake Monona and offers a picnic shelter, fishing spot, small watercraft launch site and reservable storage. Check out MADISON PARKS A to Z: cityofmadison.com/atozparks

Learn to Nordic Walk! Participants in this free workshop will explore Elver Park with volunteers from Madison Nordic Ski Club and learn where to hike and snowshoe in this 250-acre park. Join us Friday, Dec. 8 & get ready for winter! Advanced registration is required. All equipment is provided.

cityofmadison.com/parks/events/learn-to-nordic-walk

The Learning Series features educational events, hands-on workshops, and informational stories about projects, people, activities, and initiatives. Attend a workshop, read about a new initiative, take a guided park tour and more. The Learning Series is free to all, thanks to the Madison Parks Foundation.