Willow Park

There are several reasons I like this park:
It has ducks and a pond. If you have kids that like to feed ducks it is sometimes difficult to find ducks that won’t attack you when you bring food to feed them. The ducks here must be pretty well fed because when you show up with your bag of «duck food» (usually old bread) the ducks are polite and will usually stay in the pond or at least stay a respectful distance away from you and the kids (even little ones who could easily be scared by advancing ducks).
It has a cargo net climbing area that is rounded, not too tall and secure enough for beginning climbers to use. It is easy to «spot» young children just learning to climb. While a young child is climbing it is easy to stand behind them and make sure that if they lose their footing or hand-​hold the adult is there to catch them if they fall. The rounded shape allows a lot of distance for climbing without a lot of height.
Grass/​shade/​picnic areas. There is a lot of grass area and full grown trees that offer shade at this park so there are plenty of places to sit and hang out.
Bathroom. There is a bathroom available.
There are several reasons I don’t like this park:
The ducks and the pond. The water in the pond is really dirty and doesn’t get much movement. There is one area near a small waterfall where the water seems to be stagnant and is completely covered over with a «mossy-​like» substance.
The park is not well kept. There are trash cans, but there seems to be a lot of trash all over the place. The trees have a lot of seeds and pods that drop from them and they make the ground very uneven and difficult to walk on.
Bathroom. The bathroom is really dirty and I wouldn’t use it or have a child use it.
Parking. There is no lot. The only parking is on the street. This makes it a bit difficult to maneuver kids when you have to get them in and out of the car on a busy street.

For a parent of a three-​year-​old daughter who adores playgrounds, this 2.9 acre park didn’t cut it for us. The play structure is very challenging where it resembles more of a medieval rope course than what you would traditionally expect such as swings, slides, etc.
There is a full-​court basketball court as well as a few picnic benches. The shade is nice as there are many tall conifers lining the pathways.
Parking is via street (Denni or Orange) only as there is no private lot. Also, when we were here on a warm afternoon, the small pond was disgustingly packed with water fowl. The stench was utterly putrid and we could not stand it for more than 5 minutes. I actually wanted to run to the park bathroom as it would probably smell better inside there.