Monday, September 30, 2013

Kreag Road Park, Perinton, NY

We found ourselves at Kreag Road Park  in Perinton last week. This is one of the apparently zillions of wonderful playgrounds in Perinton/Fairport. It's right near Bushnell's Basin and very easy to get to from I-490.

The Good: Big shade trees, benches, great play structures, what a wonderful playground!

Play structure for 5- to 12-year-olds.
So many bars to climb on for the big kids.

Play structure for - to 5-year-olds.
The play structures are geared toward the older end of the age range, in my opinion. My 5-year-old spent more time on the smaller than the bigger one. And I followed my 2-year-old on the small one -- it's kind of high up and the bridge has a big gap below the railing.

One of the greatest features of this playground is the sandbox. Plenty of room for lots of kids. Plenty of toys floating around in there to play with. Plenty of shade. Plenty of space around the edge for parents to stand and chat while the children are completely distracted and happy.

Sandbox at Kreag Road Park.
 Everything is close together -- parking lot, play structures, swings, sandbox. There's a bathroom right there, too, that was open and relatively clean on a Tuesday morning -- MUCH appreciated!

The playground has two big-kid swings and two baby swings.

The bad: When we arrived and were virtually alone at this wonderful park I thought we had discovered a secret treasure. By 10 a.m. it was clear that this park is no secret. Fortunately it's a big enough play space that the kids weren't bumping into one another, but there was a bit of traffic on the slides.

Speaking of traffic, the dominant sound at this park is the rush of cars and big rigs on I-490. There's also a mild danger factor nearby -- the Erie Canal. We walked boldly past the "Danger, deep water, hold onto your kids" signs to check it out. I felt less brave standing at the edge of the water with little ones and we quickly wandered back. The playground is quite a distance from the canal, though, and I didn't feel at all worried that a kid would drift into danger by toddling away from the sandbox.

The Erie Canal borders one edge of this park, and I-490 the other edge.
Overall: I agree with all the other families, this is a great spot for a play date. Just go early if you don't like crowds.