Look Memorial Park (aka Frank Newhall Look Memorial Park) is a privately run non-profit park that opened in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1930. Located in the village of Florence, the 150 acres of land were given to the City of Northampton by Mrs. Fannie Burr Look (widow of Frank Newhall Look). Mr. Look had been a long-time resident of Northampton and the chief executive of the Prophylactic Brush Company. Operation and maintenance are dependent upon the trust fund, visitor fees, grants, and gifts. Owned by the city but operated as a non-profit organization, Look Park receives no funding from the city or state. The park contains a number of notable features including walking paths, an outdoor amphitheater, tennis courts, baseball and softball diamonds, a miniature golf course, paddle boats, playscapes, a spray park, a wildlife center, a sweet shoppe, covered picnic areas, covered bridges, and a miniature railway. I recently visited Look Memorial Park with my family. I first visited the park last summer with my older son. We had so much fun that we decided to return this year with my wife and younger son. We first set out to visit the park's 5,000-square-foot spray park. It was a hot day and my two sons had a blast exploring the various ground jets, bucket dumps and water umbrellas. After a change of clothes, we explored one of the playscapes and the wildlife center. What we were most looking forward to was a ride on the park's miniature steamer train. Manufactured by Wichita, Kansas-based Chance Rides, the miniature train is a replica of the circa-1863 C.P. Huntington steam locomotive. The train runs every half hour on the weekends and rides last about 10 minutes. The train is transformed into 'Santa's Train' during the Christmas holiday season and it can also be rented for birthday parties. The train ride was easily the highlight of our park visit. We look forward to visiting Look Memorial Park again and again! read more

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I planned a fun birthday picnic today, only to find out after paying to get into the park that half of the services were closed. I wish management would be more proactive about notifying incoming guests that many park services are closed before paying to get in. We also went to the sweet shop to get root beer floats, and paid $11 for two root beer floats that were actually half full. I would recommend the place for people looking to enjoy the scenery, but apart from that the experience was lacking. read more

Beautiful park,highly recommended only stayed for 2 hours,but next time we staying whole day weather permitting..highly recommended read more

Look Park is a great place to visit. The park has much to offer and its lovely! Some of the visitors don't follow simple rules such as not littering! Look Park should be clean for everyone to enjoy. Some visitors feed the animals even when there are signs explicitly saying not to. It may be cute for you, but you will make them sick. They can't eat your food and stay healthy. read more

Great place to spend a day with family, especially children.. fun things to do, but peaceful at the same time!

Cool park. Nice place to walk around. And they have pedal boats, bumper boats, a train for kids, mini-golf, etc. But $7 is pretty steep for an entry/parking fee. It's not worth the money if you don't go with a family. But you could get an annual pass. Also it's half price in the off-season (before April 1st and after October 15th). It's worth seeing at least once. They have special events sometimes, like musical performances. Something that bothered me was that some people were riding their bikes on the walking trails. I hate that. read more

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Look Park will always hold a special place in my heart because my husband and I got married there last month! We were supposed to have the ceremony in the Pines Theater, but the weather didn't cooperate, so it was the Garden House full tilt, which was great. The Pines would have been beautiful, though. We went back to the Pines and the area in between the Garden House and the Pines for some pictures. I would highly recommend any of the ceremony venues in the park. The Willow Sanctuary is for small gatherings, but it's on the pond and simply gorgeous. Every time we were in Northampton to do wedding stuff, we visited the park. It's beautiful and well-maintained. It's a non-profit organization, so the entry/parking fee you pay is going toward maintenance of the park. In October, they have Halloween activities going on and our nephews got to ride the haunted train during the reception which I'm pretty sure trumped our wedding for them. I hope to return to the park as often as we can make it to the area! Til then, I can't wait to see my wedding pictures!!! read more

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Really a cool park with lots of nice outdoor green space. Was the perfect location for the North Hampton Cyclocross Race. So beautiful and fun for the whole family. read more

Look Memorial Park - https://classactracing.blogspot.com/ - Playgrounds Near Me - Northampton, Massachusetts

This is just a very beautiful park. I went to the Norah Jones show and the outdoor theatre is magnificent. Wish I could have spent more time there. read more

Look Memorial Park - Perfect size venue, and this is on the back of the lawn!!! - Playgrounds Near Me - Northampton, Massachusetts

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Amazing place to see an outdoor concert! Theater in The Pines is absolutely stunning....

Look Park is a beautiful well maintained park. There is a entry fee of 7 dollars which is a little pricey in my opinion. We did not have cash but they will let you pay at the visitors center. We came on a Wednesday and the attractions were half price. Thank goodness they were because the mini golf was overgrown and in need of some repairs. The zoo was free and wasn't worth the walk through. I also don't think you should have to pay to have a picnic which we were not doing anyways. Overall we enjoyed our time read more

Look Memorial Park - Playgrounds Near Me - Northampton, Massachusetts

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$7 to get in...ok. Until I see the sign that says "no blanket picnics"!? You have to get a permit and PAY to rent a picnic table??? Seriously?? I was told that the park is non-profit and this is how they make their money?? Permits are $15 to use a picnic table. Ridiculous!! Nice park with nice amenities, but I was so "put off" by the no blanket picnic rule that we left (after sneaking a blanket near the creek and having a quick lunch)!!!! We would have stayed longer and paid to play mini golf or use the paddle boats and even gotten an ice cream treat. Their loss. Won't go back. read more

Gorgeous park. My friends recently got married here and the pictures were stunning. Lots of parking and different spots for photo opportunities. Looks like a great place to spend the day with family. I believe I saw a sign that says it's $7 to park but seems worth it if you're spending the afternoon there. I don't know anything about the pricing for weddings but the ceremony and reception were on site and seemed to go as planned. Very beautiful and unique! read more

Is it just me, or does this place seem a little weird? I used to come here as a kid for summer camp outings, and now I've been a few times as an adult with small children. First of all, the pay-for-your-picnic-table thing is downright strange. It kind of has the feel of a campground. Each picnic table/site is numbered and there are hundreds of them. Like you start enjoying this scenic park, but there are always a ton of (empty) picnic tables in view. I'm not sure who uses these picnic tables, because I've never seen anyone sitting at them, but someone must... um... right? The "zoo" is sad and depressing. The train's cute, but I felt that it detracted from the scenic feel of the park. Then again, the picnic tables were already killing it so why not add another surreal element to the mix. I guess I'll probably come back because the playgrounds, water park and train entertain my kids, but it's just got a funny vibe. read more

I love this park. I've been coming here since I was little when my parents brought me. I haven't been in a while but when I returned it was the same as I remembered it. There's a lot of things to do here, bumper boats, mini golf, pedal boats, a zoo, the train, fields to play in, and a grill and ice cream shop. I don't ever get bored of this place. It's much nicer than other parks around and is definitely worth a little drive if you're not from around. read more

Look Memorial Park - The train - Playgrounds Near Me - Northampton, Massachusetts

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What a cute little park! I love finding places like this in Massachusetts. Makes me feel like this place is pretty cool after all. I went to see Aaron Lewis and friends a couple weeks ago and the Theater there is just the cutest lawn set up you ever did see. The stone walls and stone structure where the box office and bathrooms were was COVERED in Ivy and other lovely vines. I mean if thats your kind of thing, then Look Park is the place for you! A baseball field at the entrance and on your right is the landmark for the entrance/exit. This place is designed like a horseshoe that you drive through past gardens, a mini train station for the kids, a soccer field and what seems like endess trails for walking and biking. Its a very intimate setting that they chose for this show and it really worked out well as far as music was concerned. Sitting front row felt like I was in Aaron's backyard while he played for a few friends. This intimacy was sacrificed for the fact that their facilities were not up to dealing with such a large volume of people.Out of the 4 stalls in the women's room 2 were clogged and the other 2 had no TP so you had to steal some from the broken stalls before someone stole a working stall haha. That aside, I will definitely be back here for a day of walking, reading and/or painting. This place is also a fantastic venue for taking pictures in colorful gowns ahaha read more

Nice park, but $7 to get in seems a little steep. I went there for an event and we had to already pay almost $400 to rent a pavilion, which is fine, but then add 50 cars and they made a killing off of us. read more

It's beautiful in summer winter fall spring. Very clean park. Love to do the boat paddling.

I had a great time at a corporate event at Look Park. I remember going to this park as a child about 30 years ago. It's so much bigger than I remember. There are protected areas for cookouts with grills, but be prepared they do require permits so plan ahead. The fees for parking mini golf and paddle boats are very reasonable. There is food available and even soft serve ice cream. I would imagine spring and fall are to the most beautiful times to go to Look Park. Unbelievably, the city of Northampton uses no tax revenues to support the park so if you can provide an extra donation you were supporting the park see your kids can take theirs in the future. read more

Do NOT hold an important event at this park, they are not up to the job. The pavilion was old, run down and dirty, the staff was rude and aggressive to my guests, and the parking fees were outrageous especially on top of the rental for the pavilion. Here is our story: On Saturday July 28, 2018 my family rented your Dow Pavilion for a Jack and Jill party. I am writing to you today to relate the unpleasant and unsatisfactory experience we had at your facility. I am very unhappy with both the condition of the Dow Pavilion and the behavior of the staff of Look Park. While we consider our party a success, that success was in spite of, and not because of, having the get together at Dow Pavilion in Look Park. First: When we made this reservation, the price of parking was $6.00 per car. By the time we had our event, the price had skyrocketed to $9.00 per car, a 30% increase, and very significant when you are planning an event where over 100 are attending. We should have been made aware of this in the beginning. I am certainly aware that the price of parking helps to pay for maintenance in the park. Which brings me to my next problem with your facility... second: The condition of the Dow Pavilion is disgusting. Could you DO some maintenance once in awhile? You advertise this pavilion as one that allows a DJ, but the electrical outlets, what there were of them, were literally falling out of the walls, and so rusty and corroded the DJ refused to plug his expensive equipment in out of fear they would short circuit. Who can blame him? Next, what was described to me as a "kitchen area" for prep was really two old rusty hulks of refrigerators straight out of the 70's. Neither of them were capable of keeping things cold, as they barely ran. They were filthy dirty, so no one wanted to put food in them; not that they could because the DIDNT HAVE ANY SHELVES! Thats right, NO SHELVES TO PUT THINGS ON! Totally useless!!! Third, it was yet another very hot and humid day, so I fully expected the vans in the back room to still be there for us to use for our guest, but NO they were gone, And Last, but I feel worst of all was the behavior of the Look Park Staff. After paying $500 plus $9 per car for parking, for a total gain to Look Park of at least $1000 to rent your crappy old pavilion, we were harassed incessantly by your staff beginning at 7:00 pm. One of your staff questioned my guests to get to me, dragging me out of an important part of our event to find out when we would be "getting out of here? I made it very clear to this employee that I paid for the pavilion until SUNSET, a full hour and 1/2 from the time he started harassing myself and my guests. And I do not use the term harassment lightly. Your employee insisted "Well we have to clean the restrooms and the pavilion" I responded "Well, I paid for an event, and if you have something to do, you can do it when the even is over; I paid to use this pavilion until sunset and I intend to do just that". After that two different guests came up to me to tell me that park staff were hanging around the bathroom, and when they went to use the facilities, they staff would come up to them and demand to know when they were leaving! This is totally unacceptable! My guests paid good money to attend this event and to have them harassed by your cleaning staff in the restrooms is beyond the realm of acceptable behavior. `After hearing what was going on, I looked over to see three of you staff, in their park uniforms, standing leaning against their little carts with their arms crossed glaring at the pavilion I watched what was going on for a good 20 mins; it was obvious their intent was to make people uncomfortable and they were succeeding. their behavior was rude and aggressive. I am very upset that my guests were subjected to this behavior. Finally I had enough, and went over to the older man, who seemed to be the leader of the group. I told him in no uncertain terms to leave and stop making my guests uncomfortable. This behavior is unacceptable. Haven't you trained your staff in customer service? Do you have no standards for acceptable behavior? I will never have another event at Look Park, between the terrible condition of the pavilion to the disgusting behavior or your staff, I have come away with the impression that yours is a venue to be avoided at all cost. And I will tell everyone I know that message! I am very unhappy that I choose Look Park for my event! read more

Look Park is the Disney World of this area, and hardly anyone knows about it. It is huge, and full of fun activities. I came here first for a picnic birthday party, and the set up was ideal. I used to take my babysitting clients here too and there was always plenty to keep them entertained. A zoo! A train! Boats! Playgrounds! Fountains! This place has it all. Do not let them bring their scooters though, you will be unable to keep up. The trails are really fun for adults to explore and the paddle boats are a fun excursion. What a hidden gem. read more

This place has everything - from a splash area to numerous jungle gyms to a train ride that goes molasses slow. It's a great place for walking and there are a ton of pavilions for holding parties/BBQ's. It even has an outdoor theater for performances. Very neat park. There is a small entry fee ($8 I think) if you drive in but considering it's a private park, it's very worth it. read more

Really a disappointment. There needs to be more staff. I went to the grill and ordered my lunch. It has taken more than 25 mins. While I waited I watched the maintenance staff sit on their phones on the lawn. The staff needs to be more professional. What a shame read more

I have been going there for 4 years now and I love it. I have a six year old son who loves going there for any reason. I always get a season pass and end up there at least once a week for a picnic, to go to the sprinkler park, or even to play in the stream in the back and that's not even mentioning the train, zoo, or playgrounds! Overall, it is a wonderful park to live near and will be going back for many years to come. read more

Look Park far exceeded my expectations, and I highly recommend it for anyone with young children. It's a perfect spot for a full-day summer outing, and is very inexpensive. You pay a $4 entry fee and then you pay for the rest of the activities as you go along depending upon which activities interest you (for example $2.25 for an adult ticket on the train). They have tons of stuff to offer - Bumper boats, miniature golf, 2-and 4-passenger pedal boats on Willow Lake, a 1.2 mile scenic walking trail, a little zoo where you can feed the animals, steamer train (for kids mainly) that goes around the park, volleyball and tennis courts, ball fields, tons of open land, etc. Fabulous day of wholesome family fun. They also have a beautiful Victorian gazebo and a wedding venue on site! Great place for engagement or family photos. The only weird thing is that they require you to pay to use their picnic tables (you have to buy a picnic permit!?!) and they do not allow blanket picnics, but I saw quite a few people having a picnic on the lawn without a problem... so perhaps they don't enforce this rule? I can't believe I'd never heard of this place before. You can be sure I'll be telling all of my friends with young kids about this place from here on out! read more

One of my favorite parks. A great place to take the family and pets for a walk. Also a great picnic location in the warmer weather. They do a wonderful Christmas light display between thanksgiving and Christmas. They even do fun things like breakfast with Santa for the kids. The train that runs all summer is also a lot of fun. One of the best parks in the area! read more

One of the best parks I have gone to this year, I just wish it was a little closer. It had a little bit of everything: trails, pond, paddle boats, train ride, small zoo, bumper boats, even mini golf. Me an my gf had an awesome day out there. We even got to feed some baby Canadian geese, they were so cute with such little chicken like wings. We had a blast. read more

Look Park is a great place for a wedding. My husband and I got married at the Sanctuary at Willow lake last July and it was beautiful. We had a reception at the Garden House. It was great because that gave us our rain option. Jillian was great to work with and make sure that our last minute details (such as needing an extra chair for the musicians) was taken care of. The reception was fun and it was nice to have the indoor/outdoor component as the weather was great. We did our ceremony at the Sanctuary, but decided to turn it around and have the public facing the lake, with the ceremony happening on the boardwalk. The only problem we had was that the benches were placed a bit far from the boardwalk, and not everybody was able to hear the ceremony very well. read more

Bicyclists riding on the walking trails, riding against traffic on the roadway. Walkers on the road, walking both directions, sometimes blocking traffic, walking two and three abreast and not moving for traffic. No blanket picnics is not being enforced. Speeding trash carts , driving against traffic read more

It's beautiful, no entry fee if you come in via the bike path, and the free amenities are good. My toddler is absolutely enthralled with the splash park on a hot day. What's sad is that the signs everywhere about the rules are excessive and really hurting the ambiance. All caps, with an exclamation point, telling me at every grassy nook that blanket picnics are not allowed, and reminding me to get a permit before I sit at a picnic table? Well, that just ruins the view of the grass in my opinion, and gives the whole park the grumpy "get off my lawn" vibe. Plus with all those picnic tables vacant it just looks a little... sad and under utilized. I understand that they get no public funding and rely on donations and fees to cover all operating expenses. But either change the rule or take down the signs at least and have the rangers enforce the rule themselves (though I watched a ranger drive in his golf cart right past a blanket picnic the other day and he said nothing to them so it seems the rule is just something they say, over and over again?) I would bet they would actually get many more donations and entry fees if they lifted the simple blanket rule. read more

I'm a bit stressed about the animal park. Just feel sorry, as everything is not well maintained, AT ALL. Are there places to donate here???? How about memberships for residences? read more

This place is great! I wish there was something like this closer to Boston. Lots to do, especially with kids. A perfect place for a picnic. The little zoo is fun, and so is the little train ride. It would be a great place to just spend the day. It's a low-cost outing, too. read more