This is a great little free activity in downtown Asheville. My preschooler had an absolute blast and asked to go back the next day! We ate lunch at the nearby Twisted Laurel, which was excellent.
Things to know:
Parking is not free. There are a couple of metered spaces nearby and there's a pay to park lot across the street.
There are no bathrooms or changing rooms close by (that I could see). On their website it says there is a public bathroom, but I couldn't find it.
There isn't a lot of shade except under the trees and on the amphitheater stage. These are really too far away to keep a good eye on a small child. Bring your sunscreen!
There are no benches nearby to sit on, but there are concrete blocks so bring a towel for parents to sit on.
It's a public fountain, so we were glad to have our water shoes.
The fountain is advertised to have a lot of features and lights, but we didn't see any of that while we were there. The water shoots up out of the ground and doesn't change. That's enough for my preK kid, but might get boring for older ones. We brought some water toys and those were a big hit.
While we were there a summer camp or daycare came through with 50 kids who were well-behaved, but they took over the amphitheater area and most of the fountain. We ended up leaving because it was just too crowded. read more