Attract More Park Visitors With Site Amenities

From rustic woodland escapes to the green oasis in the midst of the city, people gravitate toward parks for a wide variety of reasons—exercise, socializing, sports, play, or just sitting and taking in the natural scenery. If you want to attract more visitors and build a sense of community in your park, choose a mixture of site amenities that can meet a broad range of needs.

Start Here

Picnic tables provide a place for families to enjoy an affordable night out, especially when you pair them with park grills for a fun cookout, or you locate them near where food trucks can provide service. Some parks even host food truck nights, drawing even more people to enjoy a fun night out.

Besides a spot to sit and eat, picnic tables also provide an ideal space for all kinds of activities, whether it's day-camp arts and crafts or a meetup for a special interest club.

Park benches encourage community members to socialize and allow people to take in the natural beauty of your park. Placed along trails, pathways and at entrances, they'll make your site more welcoming to people of all ages, and especially seniors, who might need a place to pause. Be sure to place some of your benches in shady areas—important on hot, sunny days.

Waste receptacles are a no-brainer if you want to keep your site and community free of litter. Receptacles encourage the proper disposal of waste, which not only benefits your park from an aesthetic point of view, but also keeps litter from getting into waterways and sewer systems. You also can encourage recycling by providing well-labeled recycling bins.

Now Keep Going!

Once you've got the basics in place, you can add even more to satisfy the needs of even more visitors.

A kiosk at your park's entrance can provide information for park visitors, from basic park rules to notices about upcoming events they might like to attend.

Bike racks will encourage more people to get to your site on two wheels. You can go even further by adding bike repair stations in areas with heavier bike traffic. These can add a colorful aesthetic splash, and you can even include branding.

Drinking fountains will be welcome any time of the year, but especially in the heat of summer. Drinking fountains promote healthy hydration and help eliminate bottled water waste. Include a bottle filling station, and people will be encouraged to bring their own bottle to fill.

Family-Friendly

Want to attract children and families to your park? Playgrounds designed for use by young tots and school-age kids will promote physical activity and improve social skills for children of all ages, while providing a central spot for families to connect.

Be sure to include shade nearby so families can get out of the hot sun, as well as benches near the playground to provide a place for parents and caretakers to watch their young charges.

If your park also includes sports fields, like a baseball diamond or a soccer pitch, consider including bleachers. Bleachers encourage more spectators to watch the game, while making it easier for spectators to follow the game. As an added bonus, they help create a degree of separation between spectators and players, which helps games flow more smoothly.

And let's not forget our four-legged family members! Dog parks enhance the pet-friendliness of your site, and provide benefits for dog parents as well as those without pets, who can enjoy watching dogs at play.

Even if you don't have a formal dog park, you can boost the pet-friendly nature of your site by placing dog waste stations along your park paths. This will encourage pet owners to clean up after themselves.