Best Playgrounds in Cheyenne — Jon’s Top Five

West: Pioneer Park

Talbot Ct. and Cribbon Ave.

Ah, how times have changed. When I was a kid, I’d sometimes walk over to Pioneer Park from my grandmother’s house.The gravel has been replaced with wood chips. The equipment nowadays is all plastic-fantastic. The park used to feature one of those circular slides with the stainless steel panels, remember those? I learned that it’s a good idea to avoid wearing shorts while going down the slide, a lesson still painfully in the back of my head. The burnt hand remembers best, they say, to which I would only add: so does the burned bum.

All of the city playgrounds are now the similar safety-fied stuff with the wood chips. No old steel merry-go-rounds in hard, hot, black asphalt any longer.

Pioneer is a little off the beaten track. While it’s easily visible from I-25, you have to be looking for it to find it. Turn west on 29th Street from Snyder Ave. and bear left at the two-arrow sign. This will make perfect sense once you’re there, I promise.

Avenues: Lions Park

Carey Ave. at Kennedy Rd.

Lions Park can safely be called one of Cheyenne’s premier greenspaces. Far more than just a playground, Lions Park offers plenty to do even if you without child. (As a matter of fact, we’ve called it out before as a great place to meet singles.)

So what are these other things? You see lady liberty to the left here. She is the centerpiece of one interpretive stop in the park, which highlights some of our nation’s sacred political texts. While I was there, there were kiddos on the playground equipment, but some were also folks flying kites (Cheyenne’s great for that), feeding geese (three lakes in the park), enjoying the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, playing put-put, utilizing the exercise equipment around the park perimeter, playing fetch with Fido… you get the idea. If you can’t find something to do at Lions Park, you’re not trying. Or perhaps even worse, you must be trying to fail.

Central: Holliday Park

Morrie Ave. at Lincolnway

Holliday Park (notice the double-l) is another wonderful spot in Cheyenne. Like Lions Park, there is a lake and critters (specifically geese, swans and ducks) all over the place. There are also tennis courts, horseshoe pits, one of eight extant Union Pacific Big Boy coal locomotives and multiple playgrounds. There is also an artisans shop and the Cheyenne Family YMCA is the park’s eastern neighbor.

When I was living in my previous residence a few blocks away, I would often take Mamadog there for walks and to play in the snow during the colder months. Sadly, we don’t make it that way much any more, but that’s because I’ve not got a big yard for her to run around. If it weren’t for that, we’d still be regulars around Lake Minnehaha.

South: Romero Park

Ames Ave. at Parsley Blvd.

While there are fewer parks per-se south of the viaduct, one of Cheyenne’s premiere teen facilities is. There’s an awful lot for teens to do at Romero Park, including membership-based latchkey programs for after school. For the older kids in us looking for a place to throw a birthday party or wedding reception, renters can also plunk down money for a liquor permit and have a catered event in the main hall.

North: Cahill Park

Hilltop Ave. at Dell Range

For the many folks who live on the north end of town, there are many, many great parks and greenspaces to take advantage of. Cahill happens to be one of the nicest ones, but some will prefer closer haunts. Nevertheless, Cahill gets the nod for being large and spread out; plenty of room to breath in Wyoming’s wonderful fresh air here. There is some more of the wonderful plasticy playground equipment for the kiddies, and a soccer field to boot.