Fort Worth Water Gardens — Attraction in Fort Worth

So I’m at the Fort Worth Water Gardens, just vibing, trying to soak in the serenity—literally, not metaphorically. The place is quiet, the kind of quiet where you can hear your own thoughts… and then immediately regret them.

I’m walking around the active pool, those big stone steps going down like you’re entering the set of an ancient alien ritual. Out of nowhere, this guy in cowboy boots—boots—comes stomping down the stones with a selfie stick like he’s about to livestream a motivational speech from the bottom.

He’s got a buddy filming him, a drone buzzing overhead (which may or may not have been legal), and he’s yelling, “We’re goin’ VIRAL today, baby!” before launching into some half-baked story about how water represents the flow of life or some nonsense.

Mid-monologue, his boot heel catches. Dude goes flying—arms flailing, cowboy hat spinning mid-air like a frisbee—and belly flops directly into the water. SPLASH. Like a man-sized cannonball. The drone freaks out, does a hard bank, and crashes into a tree. People scream. A toddler claps. A pigeon takes off like it owes him money.

His buddy? Laughing so hard he drops the phone into the water too. Now they’re both soaked, covered in leaves and city water funk, yelling at each other about insurance and copyright laws. Security rolls up and just stands there for a second like, “We don’t get paid enough for this.”

I left before I saw how it ended, but I’m 90% sure someone tried to upload it to TikTok under “#BootsAndBaptisms.”

Moral of the story? The Fort Worth Water Gardens are a peaceful place… unless cowboy...

This place is so neat, fun and beautiful! Definitely a place to go if you're visiting D/FW. It's a great place to take kids for free, have a picnic (there aren't picnic tables but a lot going f steps to sit on.) I personally wouldn't do it alone with kids, though. My husband took our three year old son down into one of the fountains (there are a whole bunch of steps to walk down) and I was holding my breath the whole time. Not very safe so my husband held onto our son's arm as tight as possible the entire time! We had our 1 year old daughter in a stroller most of the time. It's doable but there are a few areas where you take stairs to go down closer to the water, so you end up not being able to do that. My husband ended up taking the stroller back to the car. There's this nice quiet pool area. You're not supposed to wade or swim, but you can stick you're feet in to cool off AND that area is surrounded by a water wall that our son just loved. There are no public restrooms. The convention center is right there so we tried those but apparently the bathrooms aren't open if there's nothing going on at the center. So, we went to the Starbucks next to/in the Omni hotel and used the restrooms there. NO changing table but they seem to keep it really clean. I would definitely suggest using the restroom beforehand and if you're bringing kids bring a change of clothes because even though there's no swimming it's really easy to get wet! It would also make a great...

I’ve visited the Fort Worth Water Gardens for decades, and my concern for public safety still remains. The number of lives lost here should never have exceeded zero, but sadly, it did. Accidents happen, and the city should have, along with the renovations they did complete, added safety measures like netting or barriers to help prevent future slip-and-fall incidents.

Children left unattended or allowed to run down the steps only increases the risk of another tragedy.

Over time, the large square fountain area has also come to serve unintended purposes. Individuals experiencing homelessness have used it as a place to bathe, which speaks not only to issues of sanitation, but also to the broader challenges our city faces in caring for those in need. It’s a reminder that public spaces must be designed and maintained with both safety and dignity in mind.

Like many things, the Water Gardens have aged, and not always for the better. What was once a serene and peaceful spot has, for some families, become a place of painful remembrance, and for others, a last resort for meeting basic needs.

If you're just here to enjoy the sights, I’d recommend sticking to the concrete paths and avoiding contact...