Beautiful little lake surrounded by trees and nice public sandy beach. The inflatables are…read moreincredible and staff is super friendly!! Highly recommended!

This is one of our favorite parks here in rochester. Very clean and well taken care of. Very close…read moreby to downtown too ( maybe about 5-10 min drive). It has two play grounds, one for little kids and another for bigger toddlers and adolescents. What we also really love is the volleyball sand court! We've had so many good games there. There's also a shelter for groups to eat and sit around. We used it several times with friends for birthday parties and potlucks. Have I mentioned the lake yet? Really nive Lake with a little sand beach. You can swim there too. They do hold several sport events there for swimming during the year. People also bring fishing poles and go fishing there. During the winter, the lake is frozen and people come here to do ice fishing. I just love coming there and reading or chilling around sunset time.

Awesome park to let you dog of any age run and play with or without other dogs. It has 3 separate…read morefenced in areas for dogs to play

We are so grateful for this park. 3 big fenced in areas, but bring your own water. People use to…read morenot pick up after their dogs, but either people are getting better or the volunteers that pick up are just awesome.

went here to beach with grandkids and daughter in law. park, beach and swimming. restrooms far away…read morefrom beach area. kids just go in the lake along with babies in soaked diapers. Is the city going to put in a restroom closer to the beach?

been going here for about a week, and the walk around the lake is so peaceful and serene. took me…read more43 minutes to go around with short legs and a steady walking pace. 2.1 miles long I think, totally recommend fishing and walking around here

The kids love this place. Its an indoor playground with lots to see and do…read more Colorful murals add a jungle feel to a spacious sunny well maintained area. The hit seems to be the kiddie roller coaster carts. Up to three kids can race these at a time. The climb and slide room was also a big hit. $1 a kid. Adults are free. Its tied to a Lutheran Church but all are welcome. No heavy handed proselytizing, just a fun place to play.

Great indoor play center for the little ones....infant-6ish…read more Open during the cold MN winter months. Gives the kids a place to run and play with other little ones and a place for parents/caregivers to meet and chat. Clean, well kept, coffee, restrooms, indoor playground. Inside Life Lutheran Church, Pastor Meyer is welcoming and very personable. Great guy! $1 per child is well worth the cost.

Swim meet review:…read more The actual pool is lovely! If you park when you drop your swimmer off, you might get a spot that's not a hike. I dont mind walking, but swim meets often happen in winter and it's cold and windy here, and space inside is very limited. If you're here for a big meet, there will not be enough space in the stands or the gym. The home team might not have enough people to be timers and will ask for volunteers. The bathrooms are old, and the swimmers say the locker rooms are also meh. The gym is also very small and unless you grab a spot right away, there will be nowhere for you to sit, not even on the floor.

- attended the 2025 Central Zone 14 & under swimming championships event held at the Rochester…read moreRecreation Center - web site says seating at the pool area accommodates 1,294, but a person attending their orientation was told 800 by site personnel - it was a crowded mess - limited parking, so we took an Uber every day. Some people were told to park in a lot that was a 15 minute walk away. - construction mess was going on while we were there - overall, the event seemed pretty disorganized. - they ran out of wristbands on day 1 - very limited concessions - very limited seating in the gym to view swimming heats via video (for people who couldn't/wouldn't use seating in the pool area; the seating in the pool area was tight, and for this event, was inadequate) - simply LOVED (not) the woman sitting immediately behind me screaming in my ear. Next time I'll remember ear plugs. - no event t-shirts day one; T-shirts not available to purchase right away starting on day 2, and, up a flight of stairs of course. Moved downstairs starting on day 3. Limited size selection being sold. - quite a few stairs to climb for access to pool seating area - rules not enforced (many times people got away with standing at railing blocking view of pool contestants, even though the railing was marked "no standing"). People perpetually went down the up stairs and up the down stairs. - during several heats you couldn't see the contestant in lane # 1 from the stands, due to the line of people standing at the pool edge down below. - narrow/tight seating (packed in like sardines). I've never been bumped and knee'd in my back so many times as I was at this venue. - no handicap access to seating area that I could see. - loud speaker announcements hard to understand/make out - helpful friendly personnel ("Tom" in particular) - EXTREMELY LONG line to get in on day 1 - nice pool - Rochester itself was a good city to hold the event in (easy to get around in, lots of restaurants to choose from, everything a short drive away, nice hotels, friendly people) - I appreciated the National Anthem at the start of day one, and at the start of day 2's late afternoon relays. I may have missed any others there might have been. - overall, I think the Rochester Recreation Center could have been better prepared for the event, and in my opinion, was overwhelmed by the number of people attending.

It's nice to see a more robust tribute to the military in a place called Soldiers Field than what…read morewas here years ago. The track is nice, the golf course is okay, but this makes a fitting remembrance. Rochester really did a nice job in creating a memorial wall honoring veterans and the military. Made of etched granite, the wall briefly depicts in pictures and words major military actions since the Revolutionary war. It has the names of deceased veterans from SE Minnesota beginning with the Civil War. The pictures of the major conflicts etched into the granite are striking. Visually it's almost too much to process in a short visit. As you walk in, there are paving stones with names of veterans and allies. Around the memorial are trees, one representing each state, or benches dedicated to specific families or people. There's a book from the dedication listing the names on the wall or stones, and giving directions to locate it. It's nicely done. Unique among most memorials, this was built by donations instead of tax revenues. While the names are focused on SE Minnesota, this site really honors all veterans. It's an easy walk from the Mayo Clinic and on a nice day is a quiet respite from the nearby traffic.

First, I must apologize for the tardiness of this review. How could I have overlooked it?…read more A few months ago while visiting Rochester, I took a short 10 minute ride on a free Centerstone Plaza Hotel shuttle from the nearby Mayo Clinic to Soldier's Field. While Soldier's Field may not compare to some of the other National Memorial Parks and Cemetaries around the country, it was still a humbling experience nonetheless. The first and most obvious sight you'll see, is The Wall of Remembrance. The Wall of Remembrance was created to honor Veterans from Southeast Minnesota who died while fighting for our country. More than 3,000 service men and women are honored here. As you stroll along, look down at The Walk of Remembrance. It is made up of approximately 6,000 tiles honoring US Veterans and Allies for their service. Last, but not least, The Trees of Remembrance. The trees line the open grass area of the field, and each of the 50 trees represent every state in the United States of America. I was here at just about the start of Spring. It was overcast, cold, and the trees were still pretty bare. But I loved how still and serene everything was. The grounds are well maintained, and of the other pictures I've seen, it looks beautiful during different times of the year too. So if I make a return visit, perhaps it'll be when I can see The Trees of Remembrance when they are full and green. If you plan to drive over, there's plenty of free parking directly in front of the field.

The Oronoco park has changed a bit since the highway construction and improvement. Sometimes it is…read moreoverrun with the geese and has a ton of goose poop around.....They do have a nice pavilion and the view of the lake has changed and not for the better with the elimination of a ton of vegetation and trees----with all that being said....Every 4th of July the community comes together and has a fabulous firework display and potluck....typically you bring what you want to drink a covered dish some lawn chairs and typically will pay 5.00 a head for the grilled meats.....and get to know your neighbors...the fireworks over lake shady are always pretty and they typically have a dj for all the kids to dance to....We always appreciated and enjoyed this during our time living in Oronoco....

St. Marys Park is roughly a ten-minute walk from St. Marys Hospital, which is a part of the Mayo…read moreClinic. I decided to drop by on a rainy Saturday afternoon, just before the temperature dropped and freezing rain happened. I don't know why there isn't an apostrophe in St. Marys. I find it weird. What's interesting about this park is that it's on a hill. If you like killing yourself doing a brisk walk up an incline, come here. You cannot miss a water tower that is at the top of this hill. It's made of concrete and is cylindrical. It was built in 1924 and has a capacity of 200,000 gallons. It's on the National Register of Historic Places. There were roughly four parking spots at this park when I visited. You get free parking for two hours. I don't know how often this parking period is enforced. There was a slide and play area for kids. I saw a couple of squirrels having a nice time climbing up trees. I have a feeling that a lot of staff and students at the Mayo Clinic take advantage of this park when they need a break. It's probably nice to check out in the summertime, as opposed to my doing it when it's Winter. It was a cool find. I'd like to come back and check it out when it's much warmer. (503)