The Ralston-Central Park — Attraction in Arvada

Pros: the park is awesome. The playground a destination location. Great renovation! The splash pad the best thing my kid has ever experienced in his life. Splash pad is well kept and most to all water features were working. Plenty of space to play in the open grass field. Love the pavilion set up. Love the location and access to trails and paths.

Cons: barely any parking over the weekends. Parking slot lines are faded and leading to badly parked vehicles and less parking. Bathrooms are out of toilet paper and hand soap on a Saturday morning. Smell intensely like portapotties. At least two weekends in a row were like that. There was absolutely no easy way to contact anyone via Arvada’s parks and rec website nor an appropriate number posted for bathroom issues that would be on call for the park to remedy that on weekends. Kids run around barefoot. We need better janitorial/maintenance help. Grass field has spots that are bare and/or dying. Spikes and stabs feet if kids are playing on it after playing in the splash pads. I have water shoes for myself and my kid, but not everyone does. Playground ground cover is wearing away and a tripping hazard. Landscaping on street side flanking driveway entrance blocks view of oncoming traffic and is a major safety hazard for drivers AND pedestrians trying to cross.

Suggestions: -since this is an extremely high traffic park, stock and clean the bathrooms weekly right before the weekend and during the weekend, and/or have a weekend on call dispatch for stocking/cleaning bathrooms or other park facility urgent needs. -replant/maintain patches in grass in the open areas as needed as the large dead patches are maybe not getting watered or fertilized properly as the rest of the field. -Repaint the parking lot. -Expand parking by purchasing lot across the street (abandoned strip mall that has been torn down) and turn current parking into more 20 minute loading/unloading zones AND handicapped parking (I.e. the parking along the grass field west of the bathrooms). -Would like to see more grills spaced out as well as charcoal specific disposal barrels around the park. The grills that are there are all monopolized by large groups or parties over the weekends that don’t even use them. Perhaps removable post holes for grills to be installed during summer season and removed during...

Nice park with a pretty decent size double sided playground. One side is taller with bigger features for somewhat older kids and the other is a smaller scaled down type of playground for the little ones. In the summer there is a splash pad that is a lot of fun for the kids and if I'm being honest I even had fun playing when my kids dragged me in haha. On site there is a single outside shower for rinsing and also has restroom facilities that are open during the warmer months. There is plenty of open grassy field area, covered picnic area great for party or gatherings, bike work station, paved trails throughout, ample parking, and even a little memorial garden. The park is across street from a pizza hut and less than block away from walmart, and king soopers for any picnic needs. Also this park has a little creek flowing through park mostly along the same path as trails and if followed east will lead to another park with frisbee golf one of tallest playground slides in denver metro area, skate park, gazebos, basketball court, etc. Park is clean, well maintained, and comfortable spot to take the kids to run off...

Please keep in mind when arriving people do not have the authority and should not have the authority to make rules up that aren't listed on signs around the park such as parking my mother is 56 and disabled and people Park in the handicap places that didn't belong there people parked the car along the round about sidewalk when it's not parking it's a loading zone which means load and go not make it inconveniently hard for people who are disabled I'm extremely disappointed in the staff the park workers for not picking up previous messages I have pictures I can submit and send of crew members being on site but not doing their job overall I'm disappointed that nobody's there to remind people that as adults we must take turns respect other people space and pick up after themselves o t s please stop allowing people to park in handicap spots that don't belong there especially if they're able just because you have a truck and a barbecue grill doesn't make you entitled to parking...