Within Dublin’s 15,870 acres of land, more than 1,000 are dedicated to parks and recreation. Featuring 60 acres of developed parks, athletic facilities and more than 100 miles of recreational paths, the city’s recreational offerings are definitely worth experiencing.
With so many parks, the question looms: How do I experience them all? Visit Dublin has planned accordingly with its Park Pass permitting access to all 60 parks in the community.
In partnership with OhioHealth, the pass is a mobile exclusive and takes three simple steps to use. First, register for a pass online by providing your name, postal code, email and phone number. Keep in mind that parks are not limited to just Dublin residents. Shortly after registering, you’ll receive a text and email that your Park Pass is ready to use. You’ll then be able to save the pass to your phone’s home screen for easy one-tap access. Finally, redeem your pass. When visiting a park, simply make sure your location services is turned on and check-in via GPS.
The idea for the pass was born from Visit Dublin’s “experiential trails,” which offer immersive experiences throughout the city. The idea began with the Irish Fairy Door Trail and after vast success, inspired the Celtic Cocktail Trail.
After another successful experiential trail, Visit Dublin began to look at how they could use the immersive experience concept to promote Dublin’s parks.
“People know that we have parks,” Sara Blatnik, marketing director for Visit Dublin says, “but they don’t understand how much there is to do with one of them.”
With so many options, including public art, historical assets, playgrounds, river access, sports courts and many more, the pass makes the large realm smaller by allowing users to filter the park
options.
“We have so many things here, and we want to make it as easy as possible to find those,” Blatnik says.
Some users view the app as a challenge to see how many parks they can visit, while others use it as a fun way to explore and see the area, Blatnik says.
As of August, the pass has more than 700 holders and has received 2,798 check-ins at parks across Dublin. The top parks visited were Coffman Park, Indian Run Falls, Veterans Park, Riverside Crossing Park and M.L “Red” Trabue.
Ferris-Wright Park
Among a host of other things, the Dublin parks are home to educational experiences as well. Ferris-Wright Park, located on Emerald Parkway, is a preservation site for ancient earthworks and holds vast significance in the city’s history.
The land the park is set on has been home to many over the years, from indigenous people to some of Dublin’s first settlers in the early 1800s.
The ancient earthworks, and other precise geometric shape, were constructed by the Hopewell People when they were living in eastern North America around 100 B.C. to A.D. 400. The park contains three earthworks – two circles and a square – and five burial mounds.
With so much history within the parks, the city offers free Open House tours with Dublin Heritage Interpreters. These free guided tours will take guests through the historic parkland, showcasing the earthworks and what is said to be the first framed house in the area. Open Houses are offered Oct. 9 and Nov. 6 from 1-3 p.m.
Year-round Fun
Though summer has come to an end, the parks’ recreational options surely have not.
Riverside Crossing Park offers breathtaking views of the Dublin Link Bridge on a bike/multiuse path. Sunrise Kayaking also offers a downtown neon-lit ride under the famous bridge and a two-hour ride from Amberleigh Park to Dublin Spring Park. In the winter, the park is home to the Riverside Crossing Park Ice Rink. The rink is slated to open in late November.
Coffman Park, home of the beloved Dublin Irish Festival, has everything from public art to pickleball courts. Its covered shelters, gazebos and grills make for the perfect fall picnic.
Another fan favorite, Indian Run Falls, offers breathtaking waterfalls just five minutes from Bridge Park and Historic Dublin.
“We say (you can go from) nature trails to cocktail trails,” Blatnik says. “You can be in Indian Run Falls and come out and go to dinner and get a drink on a patio. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Scioto Park is another popular option, and features the revered 12-foot Chief Leatherlips stone memorial. Home to the Sundays at Scioto Concert series, river views, a picnic shelter, nature trails, amphitheater and sledding hill, the park offers year-round activities for the whole family.
Megan Roth is an editor for CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mroth@cityscenemediagroup.com.
