Civic Center Playfield — Attraction in Edmonds

Went there today with the grandkids - full sun and in the 70’s. The pros: path that goes all around the park great for scooters/bikes, tennis/pickle ball and basketball court, grassy hills to roll down & sit on, skate park, all inclusive playground area. The cons: only one covered/shade area that is no where near the playground area or in a place where you can keep an eye on kids at the ball courts or anywhere in the park. Zero shade to be found where kids are playing or at picnic tables close to the play areas. My advice: bring a beach umbrella or some kind of shade making apparatus and set it up near where you will be spending the most time if you plan on being there for more than a few minutes on a sunny day. It was downright...

The park is usually clean and well taken care of, and overall it’s a nice spot to visit. That said, I did notice a problem during my last visit — a group of skateboarders were riding pretty aggressively and didn’t seem to care much about the kids nearby. After a small accident and a few close calls, the children ended up leaving the skatepark altogether. I also saw a few of the skateboarders smoking something that looked like marijuana, which felt really out of place, especially in a space meant for families...

Not sure the citizens of Edmonds are really getting the bang for the buck on this park. It would be a perfect setting for events like Taste Edmonds, Arts Festival, etc., but instead the city insists they can't hold them there. Dumb planning.

I guess if you like skateboarding, it's cool. And if you need a place to walk your dog, it's nice. But for the rest of us, ho-hum. Waste of a lot of...