Willow Creek Park All-Abilities Playground

Willow Creek Park | Park City, Utah

Willow Creek Park is already a beloved community hub with playing fields, pavilions, trails, and a popular dog pond. In 2023, Basin Recreation and Big T Recreation reimagined the playground as a 9,000-square-foot, all-abilities destination designed around the idea of “parallel play”—creating routes where kids who walk and kids who roll can travel side-by-side.

The new design replaces an older barnyard playground with rich blues and greens, river-like surfacing, and sculpted animals you’d actually find in the Park City area—deer, elk, moose, bears, raccoons, trout, and eagles.

From the main entry, families step directly onto smooth, level rubber surfacing and broad ramps that wind all the way to the top deck. Along the way, kids discover sensory panels, musical instruments, lookout decks, animal climbers, and cozy nooks for quieter play. Shade structures and canopies keep much of the play space usable even on bright summer days.

Signature Features

• True all-abilities design – Continuous ramping and universal paths connect the entire structure, allowing children using wheelchairs, walkers, or other mobility devices to reach the same destinations as their peers.
• Nature-inspired theme – River textures in the surfacing, a waterfall climbing wall, wetland-style decks, and local wildlife sculptures immerse kids in a Park City story.
• Parallel play routes – Multiple side-by-side paths let kids choose their challenge level while still traveling and playing together.
• Sensory play everywhere – Musical instruments, tactile panels, critter scavenger hunts, and motion elements support kids with sensory, emotional, and neurodiverse needs.
• Above-and-beyond accessibility – Poured-in-place rubber surfacing, generous shade, platform swings, and low-mounted activity panels go well beyond ADA minimums.

Playground Highlights

The Willow Creek playground layers big, active play with sensory-rich details so there’s always something new to discover:

• Multi-level main structure with wide ramps, slides, and lookout decks
• Fishing-boat AeroGlider™ where kids can ride, rock, and socialize together—seated or standing, with room for mobility devices
• Concerto® musical zone featuring outdoor instruments themed to the park’s fishing and wildlife story
• Fish-ladder waterfall climber that doubles as a bold visual feature and a fun, multi-route ascent
• Mountain critter boulders & animal climbers sized for all ages to scramble and imagine
• Themed scavenger hunt—kids hunt for small creatures tucked into poles, panels, and sculptures around the playground
• Generous swings area with multiple seat types to support different ages and abilities

Comforts, Courts & Connections

Beyond the playground, Willow Creek Park offers a full day’s worth of amenities for families, teams, and dog lovers:

• Dog park & dog pond – A large fenced off-leash area with 24,000 sq. ft. of grass and a seasonal pond with floating dock just for dogs.
• Sports courts – 2 tennis courts, 8 pickleball courts, 2 sand volleyball courts, and a basketball court with varied hoop heights.
• Pavilions & restrooms – Multiple pavilions with picnic tables plus nearby restrooms support parties, leagues, and community events.
• Trails & open space – Paved and soft-surface trails connect the park to 66 acres of surrounding open space and the broader Snyderville Basin trail system.

All of this sits just off Highway 224, making Willow Creek a natural rest stop for locals and visitors moving between Park City and Kimball Junction.

Built for Every Body

From the start, Basin Recreation and Big T Recreation set out to create a playground where all kids—and their caregivers—could play with dignity and independence.

• Children using mobility devices can roll from the parking lot onto the playground surface, up ramps, and all the way to the highest slides.
• Kids with sensory or developmental differences find quiet pockets, fidget-friendly panels, music, motion, and visual storytelling.
• Grandparents and caregivers with limited mobility can join children on the structure, not just watch from the sidelines.

The result is a park where inclusion feels natural: kids notice the fish, the waterfalls, and the animals—not the accommodations.