Civic Park — Attraction in Walnut Creek

A nice urban park right in the middle of Walnut Creek. It's no Central Park or Golden Gate Park, you're not going to spend your whole day here, but it has just enough space to stretch out a bit.

There's some nice landscaping, wide-open space, a few neat old bridges over the creeks nearby, and plenty of seating for when you're just looking for a place to rest either in the shade or in the sun. Crucially, there are public bathrooms too -- something that's often in high demand and short supply when you're walking the adjacent Iron Horse Trail. Just be advised that that they're not visible from the trail and you'll need to walk into the park and across the wooden footbridge to find them.

You can see all kinds of people here on the weekends, including lots of kids and seniors. There's a community center with public art classes and the city library both accessible from the park, and the park has its own free parking lot if you're coming by car.

All in all, it has pretty much all you could hope for from a park of its size. The reason it doesn't get five stars is because there are often homeless guys sitting at the picnic tables chugging vodka or smoking cannabis in the middle of the day. I haven't seen them really aggressive, but it makes the park much less of a relaxed, family friendly space. There's also usually a lot of trash (plastic bags, beer cans, etc.) down in the creek and nobody regularly...

12/13/14

In the heart of downtown Walnut Creek sits Civic Park - a creek runs along the side of the park, green lawns all through it, and there are so many events held in and around it!

I don't think of Civic Park first when trying to find a spot for a picnic or BBQ, and I don't have kids so I'm not very interested in their play area (but it does look nice) - when I think of Civic Park, I think of pretty trees, an annual ice skating rink, and the racing events that take place in Walnut Creek, starting and finishing at the park.

Special community events take place here, as well as private events, both often have the pretty gazebo in the background. There is a small private parking lot (not useful on race days), but there are so many streets and lots nearby that cars can overflow into these spaces, especially on busy weekends.

Today's Run Walnut Creek 5K departed from and returned to Civic Park. The muddy grass from the recent rains made a fast take-off pretty difficult. At the end of the race there were several large booths set up of local businesses - hundreds of runners had room to spread out, relax, and check out the booths. There is lots of space here and it'd be a great place for a party, celebration, or just a meet-up with...

Individuals and families who come to enjoy the park on a Sunday morning should not be obligated to hearing unmitigated proselytizing.

I would really appreciate some transparency from the City of Walnut Creek and whomever runs Walnut Creek Recreation about why there is a church operating out of a public park for the past 10 YEARS. How has Open Table Church received a reservation every Sunday for gazebo and park use? Are they required to utilize the reservation system currently in place for others to rent the gazebo and park? Do they reserve and pay for rent in advance for perpetual Sundays? Do they pay rent at all?

In fact, why is Open Table Church allowed to advertise their church address as 1375 Civic Drive when that is Civic Park Assembly Hall? Since when has a church been allowed to permanently operate using municipal government property? Why is the city sanctioning a religious...