Mile Square Regional Park — Attraction in Westminster

WHATTA DISASTER ! It looked good online....a FREE CONCERT starring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy one of my wife's fav big bands and we had never seen them live. It was part of OCparks Summer Concert Series in this humongous park at 6pm on Thurs, Aug 8th. We had a close friend staying with us at the time so it was all in. We arrived at a parking lot we were directed to by attendants at around 6.15pm plenty close to where a shuttle service was picking people up to take to the concert at the other end of the park. HELLO ! We were carting folding chairs, bags of food & drinks and a picnic table when we lined up to jump on the free shuttle. AND WE WAITED AND WAITED AND WAITED ! Only one shuttle operating very very slowly. Eventually we boarded the overcrowded shuttle which took forever to get to the edge of the concert area a long way away....remember this park is a mile square. We still had to lug all our gear quite a distance to the grassy area in front of the stage. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy were cranking out their stuff while we are assembling camping chairs and putting together our picnic table....it was now 7.30pm. We enjoyed our four cheese dip & crackers, the delicious sandwiches I made at home and a couple of craft beers I brought. At 8pm it was all over after barely 30 minutes of music for us. I walked over to the toilet block which also had a row of porta-potties outside.....I don't like them so I used one of the vacant cubicles in the toilet block. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING ! It was an overflowing health hazard disaster. All the while people from OCparks were sitting in comfort under tents a short distance away. There must have 5000 people in attendance and the amenities were totally inadequate. Before we left I walked over to the concert stage and asked if any of the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy guys were still around....a stage crew guy said that might be one of over there. Sure enough it was a member of the band....the cool looking dude identified himself as Joshua Levy the pianist who said he had been with the band for 31 years. I asked Joshua to autograph the cd sleeve of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's Louie Louie Louie album from 2017....a darn good album ! And as you can see he did...thank you. Oh and I asked him what time his band came on....6.45pm. We missed most of it of course thanks to the pathetic free shuttle. THIS CONCERT WAS...

Mile Square Regional Park is also an awesome place to unwind and relax about with leisure! Paid parking inside provides close access for toting picnic supplies to open and tree shaded tables, or designated reserved spots. Local residents walk, jog or bike in, joined by visitors who may park along the outside street spaces. Here they can often be seen doing the perimeter paths, from end to end. A mile from corner to corner could be four miles around. There’s more inside trails at the east side of the park, from the north end to the south end and vice versa. Beautiful tree lined golf courses and driving ranges take up most of the west side of the park, tho not to exclude to non-golfer, the greens view thru the fences provide an attractive background to the general park grounds! Outside sidewalk access continues along Warner Av, Brookhurst St and Edinger Av. Small lakes are included in the park, with shade trees, nice views, pathways, picnic tables, benches and fishing spots. A lagoon lake at the northeast side has the small Palm Island, with an attractive crossing pathway, gazebo’s and swan boat rentals. Wheel Fun Rentals operates boat, bike and surrey rentals at various locations in the park. Freedom Hall is the huge white structure at the northeast side of the park near Euclid Street. This facility is often used for events and reserved gatherings. The Mile Square Park’s Urban Natural area, is an awesome preservation of natural plants, flowers and trees! Rock lined dirt pathways create a mesmerizing experience thru this completely natural environment! There’s restrooms all throughout the park with included stainless steel sinks on the outside from the separate stalls. Trash containers are spaced out enough to provide users the ability to self clean their areas, helping to keep the park clean! There’s the separated Fountain Valley Sports Park, operated by the City of Fountain Valley, on the westside of the Regional Park. The public is welcome to continue their workouts thru this park, tho vehicles can’t pass, unless exiting and entering either park from the outside streets. Free parking is available where permitted on...

Not going to lie, this place is beautiful and great for a wedding if that’s what you might be interested in. But they changed up the coordinator right before the wedding without notice and I don’t think she really knew what she was doing because our wedding guests ended up paying for their drinks when we already paid (open bar) for them. We had a smaller wedding so we were able to have that open bar. And because we had a smaller group we were also given more food to make up for not having a larger group ( how does that make any sense?). The food was DELICIOUS!! Props for that, but there was a lot and our guest could have gotten seconds, but the servers took the food away quickly after everyone was served. The bride and groom wanted seconds and it had already been put away. WHERE DID IT ALL GO? I saw the servers eating the food a little later when I went looking for seconds and they told me that there wasn’t much left. Yes, there was! I saw it! And why were the servers eating what was supposed to go home with us?!!! We paid for that food for our guests!! And the leftovers should not have been freely given away to the servers. I’m sure they took home that food. Apparently there hadn’t been many weddings there but if it’s that poorly organized, then I understand why. This place “recommended” florist and other services you might be looking for, but don’t take their recommendations because they’re most likely friends of theirs who need clients. Luckily a different, great DJ was found than recommended. For the money, more should have been done, more communication would have been appreciated, food was great but should have been sent home with family and not staff. Wedding coordinator should have been that…a coordinator. Luckily the bride and groom were surrounded by loving family and friends that made it very special for them. They left hungry but still very fulfilled by love. Really think this “wedding venue” over. Make your rules and...