Riley Lake Park Pavilion — Attraction in Eden Prairie

Our favorite beach for small kids! No parking or entry fee but you get lifeguards, shallow and sandy Beach (maybe 5 feet deep at furthest ropes), large grassy area with grills and picnic tables (those can't be reserved formally so on weekends large groups squat with them all day waiting for family to arrive for BBQ's and picnics), a large fenced playground to dry a bit before driving home, canoe and paddle boards for rent, a couple of sand volleyball courts, tennis courts, swimming area is adjacent to public boat launch, and a nice bike/hiking path around the area too. There is a large covered pavilion for rent thru Eden Prairie for a large fee. If there are public restrooms they are only available...

Great play ground and pavilion. We hosted a work party with a food truck and it was a perfect setting for that kind of event. Really easy to schedule with the city parks department. Lots of construction going on around the beach and boat launch, excited to return next spring to see the final results. So far the area looks amazing with all the space they cleared you can really see the beach and lake now from all areas of the park. They also have a disc golf course it looks like, never knew they had one there. I didn't try the course but may try to play it this fall yet. You also can play basket ball, tennis, beach volley ball, baseball/softball and picnic with grills provided...

What an astonishingly beautiful park/lake this is. Locals told us that this used to be a gravel pit and it is approximately 45 ft deep. Supposedly there is a crane somewhere in the middle. We didn't have the gear to find it but thought it was a pretty cool story.

This is a great place to spend a summer afternoon. It was very quiet and empty in the morning and picked up a little bit in the afternoon hours, mostly families and a few college aged kids.

Overall a very pleasant experience. We recommend...