Tag: king county
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Plan your next adventure with Backyard Fun Finder
Looking for playgrounds to take the kiddos during the last weeks of summer break? Want to find a new-to-you trail? With 200+ parks and trails in the King County Parks system, there’s something for everyone. Explore everything from ballfields, playgrounds, pools, and trails, to lush forests, quiet meadows, and sweeping vistas of mountains, rivers, and…
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How are we doing?
King County Parks is updating our King County Open Space Plan: Parks, Trails, and Natural Areas, which provides the policy framework for King County’s acquisition, development, stewardship, management, and funding of our 32,000-acre open space system. It’s a functional plan of the King County Comprehensive Plan and must be updated every six years. As part…
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Construction update: Taylor Mountain Trails
Pardon our dust, we’re building 2 new bridges! If you’ve been to Taylor recently, you might’ve noticed some things happening in the parking lot and along Road A and some other trails. That’s because construction is underway to install two new bridges that will replace old, undersized culverts on the gravel road system. Once this…
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Marymoor South play area is OPEN!
I know it’s hard to believe, but Marymoor Park just got a little bit awesomer. We’re delighted to announce that the southern play area at Marymoor Park (located right outside of the concert venue) is now open! There’s equipment for littles and bigs alike and is a climbing kiddo’s dream: lots of things to go…
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Spring into Earth Month with a good cleaning
It’s getting sunny and I’m getting antsy to put some miles under my bike tires. This winter hasn’t been the most productive or pleasant for bike commuting, and I’m a little embarrassed to report I had a personal low and logged the fewest miles ever. But spring is here! Earth Day is April 22, and…
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Compost. Recycle. Get your groove on (for free). Rinse. Repeat.
In just a few short days, the summer concert series kicks off at Marymoor Park, which means it’s time to refresh your playlist and plan some summer fun. Not enough dough to see every show? Then considering volunteering on the Marymoor Composting and Recycling Crew! Marymoor Composting and Recycling Crew volunteers help educate concert-goers about…
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2017 Green Globe awards: Honoring Our Partners
This morning, King County hosted the Green Globes, an awards ceremony honoring local businesses, cities, community groups and individuals for the work they’re doing to protect and improve our environment. We were delighted that several Parks partners were recognized for their dedication to our parks and open space. Recognized as Leader in Community Stewardship, the…
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Trail Spotlight: Sammamish River Trail
The Sammamish River Trail runs 10.9 miles along the Sammamish River from Bothell to Marymoor Park in Redmond as part of the “Locks to Lakes Corridor.”
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Citizen Oversight Board gives Parks ‘two thumbs up’ on Levy expenditures
In 2013, when King County voters overwhelmingly approved the 2014-2019 King County Parks, Trails, and Open Space Replacement Levy, they also established a Levy Citizen Oversight Board to monitor how we would be expending levy proceeds. The board, which was appointed by the King County Executive and consists of one representative from each council district,…
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Random Photo Post: Shy Bear Trail, Cougar Mountain
Every year for the holidays, anonymous elves decorate a tree in Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlife Park. Thank you, elves, for making our holidays a little brighter (and for leaving no trace when it’s over)!
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White Center Teen Program: 25 years of burnt toast, ballin’ and being awesome.
This year, King County Parks’ White Center Teen Program (WCTP), which takes place at the “Log Cabin” (a.k.a. White Center Community Center) at Steve Cox Memorial Park, has been commemorating its silver anniversary (that’s 25 years, for you non-Hallmark card-types!) with lots of reminiscing and festivities and a serious tallying up of some impressive accomplishments.…
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Taking care of our forests: Black Diamond, Ravensdale Retreat and Henry’s Ridge
King County Parks estimates that about 25,000 of our 28,000 acres of open space are covered by forests. In some places, our forests are vast canopies of big ol’ evergreens, loads of ferns, and happy critters all around. Many times, however, our forests have had a checkered past. They became “ours” because the land had…
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Trail Spotlight: Green to Cedar Rivers
When completed, the Green to Cedar Rivers Trail will be an 11-mile-long trail that follows an abandoned railroad route, intersecting with the Cedar River Trail in the north and terminating along the Green River in the south, near Flaming Geyser State Park. Locals may know 3 miles of it as the Lake Wilderness Trail, because…
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Run, dance, dunk, and picnic your way to celebrate 50 years of Fairwood
This weekend, King County is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fairwood community, near Renton in south King County. This all-day, family-friendly event kicks off with a 5k run and walk. Registration opens at 8 am, race starts at 9 am. In the afternoon, Petrovitsky Park (map) will be transformed into a…
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Harvey Manning Trailhead Dedication, June 29
Please join King County Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett and longtime Cougar Mountain advocates and enthusiasts on Weds, June 29 at 11 a.m. as we celebrate Harvey Manning and his infinite contributions to Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. We will be unveiling the newly renamed trailhead to honor Manning’s legacy of protecting Cougar Mountain. Among the…
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Memorial Day Weekend Getaway: Dockton Park and Forest
Pack a lunch, hop on a ferry and spend the day exploring the 152 acres of working forest, saltwater shoreline and natural park lands located on the south-central part of Maury Island. Begin the day hiking around the trails in Dockton Forest. With nine miles of hiking, running, mountain biking and equestrian trails – all…
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Petrovitsky Park play area is re-open!
Your little ones can climb, spin, sway and wobble their way around Petrovitsky Park once again. Closed for safety repairs, the play area now features a thick layer of wood chips and meets national safety standards for play area flooring material. The wood chips are an interim measure until the play area is renovated in…
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Goonies, Foodies and more Movies!
Okay, so I’m no Dr. Seuss and I might be missing some iambic pentameter but this rhyme conveys a VERY important message because on July 8, three things are happening: Goonies, Foodies and Movies. Check out the full news release here. Goonies: The popular First Tech Movies@Marymoor outdoor cinema series at King County’s Marymoor Park…
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It’s been sonorous, Pianos in the Parks!
What happens when twenty pianos are put in twenty parks for one month? Go to the KEXP/Seattle Center Concerts at the Mural tonight and find out! The winner of the Pianos in the Parks video contest, Mindie Lind, will be opening tonight’s Mural show at 5:00. King County Parks was a proud partner in this…
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Trail Photo Contest: King County’s regional trails through your eyes
What do you see along King County’s 175-mile Regional Trails System? Share it with us and your photo could make the next cover of the regional trails map! You’ve got until September 28 to submit your photo via our Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/rtsmapcovercontest/. Here’s how it works: 1. AM I ELIGIBLE? King County Parks employees, their…
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Trail Alert: Construction and New Additions
Summertime means construction and lots of action on our regional trails; here’s the latest scoop! Construction Alerts From August 4 – 25, King County will be repairing scour damage around the southern pier and southern bank of Gold Creek, near the Sammamish River Trail at the bridge south of the NE 124th Street and east…
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Drop it like it’s hot! First issue of ‘Out of the Box’ e-zine is hot off the press!
We are excited to kick off our first issue of a new, seasonal nature e-zine for the whole family to enjoy! The “Out of the Box” e-zine is designed to inspire kids and parents alike to: 1. Explore nature through discovery 2. Get outside & play 3. Dig into your curiosity 4. Live a fun &…
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Walk the East Lake Samm Trail with KC Parks
Join us on the trail! King County Parks is holding a series of informational meetings along the East Lake Sammamish Trail that focus on design and planning for the next portion of the trail slated for development, the South Sammamish Segment A, which goes from SE 33rd St southward to SE 43rd Way. We’re in…
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Great galloping geldings, it’s a Cavalia ticket give-away!
We’ve got tickets yes we do, we’ve got tickets, how ’bout you? No? Well then, you better enter our Cavalia ticket give-away, so you can win one of three pairs of tickets to opening night on Wednesday, February 19! Here’s how it works Between now and Feb 10 at midnight, sign up for the King…
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2013: These are a few of our favorite things…
Whew, 2013 was a big year for us here at King County Parks. We turned 75, got some serious love from King County voters, and rocked out at shows at Marymoor and Tolt. Here are our 5 favorite stories from this past year. An outpouring of support from King County voters, who overwhelmingly approved the…
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Santa’s true identity REVEALED!
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Field Notes: Happy Trails to You…
With the closing of the year, your inbox and social media are likely inundated with lists, reflections, and predictions for the new year. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that stuff later…for now, we want to celebrate some fellow Parkians! This year, we here at Parks said “Happy Trails” to 9 retiring staff members who gave…
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Field Notes: Now that’s local!
During this time of being thankful and reflecting on what we love and value, it should come as no surprise that we here at King County Parks love the trees in our “big backyard.” And our resourceful staff have found ways for the trees in our parks to keep on giving, even after they’re no…
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Take a journey with Cavalia’s “Odysseo” in Marymoor Park
Who’s got horses, acrobats, and the White Big Top tent coming to their park? We do! We do! Cavalia is back on Feb 26, bringing “Odysseo”, their second production, to Marymoor Park. Just in time for the holidays, get your tickets now, online at www.cavalia.net or at at 1-866-999-8111. Hosting touring national acts like Cavalia…
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YSFG’s got game in Auburn
On Wednesday, Oct 30, King County Parks was delighted to attend the City of Auburn’s ribbon cutting celebration of Lea Hill Park, a 7-acre park near Green River Community College. The King County Youth Sports Facilities Grant program (YSFG) provided a $60,000 matching grant to Auburn for the construction of the “freesport” field, a small…