I love this Springfield park perhaps most of all. I love to trot down here for a good run, and every time I do, I feel like I see something new. I see birthday parties; I see families, couples, people walking their dogs; I see LARPers (look it up); I see potlucks; I see high school science projects; I see track teams; I see lone runners. This is a great place to see the Springfield community at their happiest and most relaxed.
Not to mention it offers an impressive amount of amenities: a few tennis courts, a full playground, BBQ pits, a sprinking of permament art installations, and a very nice, covered communal area. This is a very old park, and the practicality of it paired with all the old stone work and giant Oak trees makes for a unique place to stop and unwind alone or with your favorite people/pets.
A few other reasons why Phelps rocks: it's in a gorgeous, well-established neighborhood full of interesting and well-maintaned forever homes and it's right next to the beloved art museum. It also has a righteously awesome butterfly garden (you'll see it if you look in the direction of the museum from the park itself), and walking through it in the summer is legitimately like walking in a dream. It's quite lovely.
One word of advice I can provide is that this park is also historically a not-so-good place to visit after nightfall, as most Springfield parks are. Get your recreational fix in before sunset and call it a day, unless you're with a group. read more