Erie with kids: nine playgrounds, a lazy river, a pump track and the library that never stops

Erie built its parks for families and it shows: themed playgrounds in every neighborhood, a splash pad downtown, a pump track that hosts a world-championship qualifier. This is how to use them.

Downtown: Coal Creek Park

Coal Creek Park, a block off Briggs Street on Kattell, is the one to know first. Maddie’s Playground is the custom butterfly-shaped one; the splash pad runs from Memorial Day to mid-September; the ice rink runs from early December to late February. Two shelters. It is also where Brewfest and the Parade of Lights happen. Sweets Ice Cream, next door to the Old Mine on Briggs, has been scooping Colorado-made Little Man and Glacier ice cream since 2015 and is the walk afterwards.

The big one: Erie Community Park and the Community Center

Erie Community Park on Powers Street is 49 acres beside the Community Center and the library: three playgrounds, the Revolution pump track that hosted a UCI Pump Track World Championship qualifier, a skate park, a sledding hill and a walking loop. Open daily 6 am to 10 pm.

The Erie Community Center on the same site has an indoor pool with a lazy river and a hot tub, a climbing tower with auto-belays, a gym and an indoor track. Day passes for anyone. Weekdays from 5 am, Saturday from 7, Sunday from 8.

The library

The Erie Community Library, between the Community Center and the park, is open seven days and runs a program most of them: a Saturday family storytime and an adaptive storytime on first Saturdays, baby open play, a chess club and a Book Dragons club for grades 3 to 5, Code Club on first Thursdays, a family LEGO club on third Sundays, Pokémon hangouts, science explorers for K to 2, and Tales 2 Tails on first and third Tuesdays, where children read to a dog. The events page has the dates.

The neighborhood playgrounds

Each has a theme, which matters to a four-year-old. Star Meadows Park in Flatiron Meadows has a climbable moon, a human sundial and a mister button for hot days. Serene Park on Colliers Boulevard has a treehouse structure with a hillside slide. Lehigh Park on Eichhorn Drive has a second splash pad and a fully accessible playground with ramps and a climbing boulder. Arapahoe Ridge Park is the shady one, with a nautical playground. Longs Peak Park in Vista Ridge has an accessible chair swing, a scavenger-hunt panel and, on a clear day, its namesake on the horizon. All sunrise to sunset.

Fishing without a boat

Thomas Reservoir on 119th Street is about a mile of flat trail around a stocked ten-acre reservoir in the middle of town, with bank fishing for rainbow trout and bluegill and benches for the ones not fishing. Erie Lake at the south-west edge has a 1.2-mile loop and accessible fishing access.

Autumn: Anderson Farms

Anderson Farms, the working farm on County Road 3¼ east of town, opens for its Fall Festival from September 23 to October 31 in 2026: a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, barrel trains, and Terror in the Corn after dark for the older ones. Closed Tuesdays. Tickets are on the farm’s site.

The dog

Reliance Park at the north end of Briggs has the Boneyard, a 7.9-acre double-gated dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs, plus a small playground and a ballfield.