We came mid-August on a rainy day when I saw an IG post about this place and thought it would be fun for my Mom and the pups to get out. It was. Mom put a bowl in a bag so she could go hands free as she picked the berries. Unfortunately we were too early, as there were some berries that were ripe, but they were all very small, maybe the size of peas. We made note and plan to come back at the end of August to let things ripen a bit. Mom only got a handful of berries, but we'll probably put them in a smoothie or on a parfait. read more

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This place is awesome, full stop. What was once a private u-pick farm is now open to the community where you can come get your blueberry on free of charge! Boasting 5 different varieties of blueberry over 20 acres, if you're willing to take the time you can end up with quite the bounty! As I write this the blueberries aren't quite ready to go, but they're mostly definitely working on it and will be delicious in the very near future. There's a ton of space so there's room for everyone. Bonus points if you're petite - some of the bushes are pretty close together and you just know that's where all the ultra-plump berries will be hiding! There's also a small community garden and playground on site if your kiddos need to burn some energy. Easy street parking. The area looks and feels a little iffy, but likely perfectly fine during the day. read more

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Blueberries are my favorite fruit. I've been here twice now and have left with loads of delicious blueberries for personal use at home each time. Charlotte's Blueberry Park is a local treasure. It is "hidden" in the midst of a South Tacoma neighborhood and has an enormous number of blueberry bushes (3,372 bushes of 5 varieties) throughout the 20 acres. In reading about this park on the Metro Parks Tacoma website I learned a lot about this place. It was a working blueberry farm from1929-1968. When a school district proposed to build a new school on the property or later when a proposed park with sports fields, etc. were considered, the neighbors organized, wrote grants, and made plans to clear the land of unwanted vegetation and save the blueberry plants. In 1997 Metro Parks Tacoma officially named this new park Blueberry Park. Volunteers continue to meet monthly to weed, prune and care for the over 4,000 blueberry plants in the park. It was eventually named after long-time Blueberry Park advocate and founder of Friends of Blueberry Park, Charlotte Valbert. Metro Parks does not use any pesticides or fertilizers on the blueberry plants and there is no fee to pick the blueberries which are first-come-first-serve during picking season. Truly a wonderful place for spending a few hours in the area. Definitely worth a visit. read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - Me at the street sign - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

Such a hidden gem located in a Tacoma! I went on the weekend to pick blueberries and there was a huge amount of trees with rip blueberries that taste great! The blueberries here are smaller than at the store but more flavorful, plus they're free! This is a great activity to get your steps in and get some good blueberries as well. Watch out for bees and spiders! read more

I absolutely love this place. It's acres of blueberry bushes that are free to pick for the public. I've heard it's organic as well. Such a nice hidden gem & wonderful spot to load up on berries. read more

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Very happy I stumbled across this amazing park today. There are so many blueberry bushes to pick from and the best part is they are free. No pesticides or fertilizers are used on these blueberry plants. There is a community garden and a playground for kids next to this as well. I used the free street parking that was full on a weekday afternoon, but I could hardly even notice anyone else there unless I really searched because there's tons of space to pick your own blueberries while giving others their own space! Will definitely return in the future! read more

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Charlottes Blueberry Park is such a special place! Not many cities have a park with free berries to pick and the abundance of berries here is amazing. We were able to pick a good amount of blueberries and other families were there doing the same. They have a cute little playground as well and a nice walking path. A must in Tacoma! read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

Very cool and fortunate to have a place like this to take the kiddos (and dog!) I can't believe it's completely free and I thought well, if it's free and all these folks are there, the blueberries would probably be scarce but I was very surprised how wildly grown they are and that there was plenty to pick! My kids had a lovely time. And we enjoyed the fruits of our labor! read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

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A perfect spot if you want to go blueberry and blackberry picking! It's mid-August and we found a ton of blueberries and blackberries. (And it's free!!) There are rows and rows of bushes. We even saw some oldish apples on apple trees down the path by the bushes. There's street parking and a small parking lot so plenty of options. The blueberry bushes aren't too hard to find. read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - blueberries and blackberries! - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

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Even though it was early in the season, my kids still had a great time finding the ripe berries. There are so many bushes, you could easily spend hours there. read more

I discovered this blueberry park from Google Map and as an outdoorsman and hunter/gatherer, I love nature, birds and at the same time enjoy gathering some blueberries for my ice cream sundae. I went there twice this past Summer. If you are into ornithology, bring a DSLR camera with telephoto lens to photograph a flock of American Bushtit if you are fortunate to spot them among the bushes. If you enjoy the morning rain as as shown in my photos, be ready to get drenched wet. Also be mindful on where you step because of human feces. I rather encounter a flock of American Bushtit than a pile of "Bush*t" (it's sad that homeless folks found a safe haven overnight in this park) The blueberries are not overly big that the store bought and other u-pick farms, but there are great for making blueberry pies. These are just my 2-cent review and are solely my honest opinions. ~ Alojz read more

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This is my first year discovering blueberry picking as an outdoor summer activity. My first experience with this was at a very nicely organized farm where you paid by the pound. It was great, everything was provided and you were given a lot of specific instructions, but being able to do it on your own for free is a much better idea. I had no idea this park existed, but we were seeking out ideas for how to spend a co-vid social distancing day in Tacoma and came across this gem. At first I was skeptical that a city park existed where you could just go pick blueberries, but I was wrong. I originally assumed that this would be a small, crowded park, with few blueberry plants. It's actually quite large, giving everyone plenty of space to spread out. The street parking out front might get a little tight on busier days, but I am sure this is best enjoyed at off hours anyways. There are tons of plants, not sure if I recalling this correctly, but I do believe the answer was around 400. There is a very informative sign worth seeking out to learn all about how this came to be. It's a neat story about how it was school property, saved by neighbors and now all they ask is you do a little to help maintain it when you come. You will need your own container to take these delicious berries home with, unless you plan to eat them all straight off the tree. What I like about picking your berries here vs at a farm is that you can be the one to decide what the right level or ripeness is (I prefer mine quite red). If you don't like blueberries or come when there are none to be picked, there are also some blackberries, a playground, some picnic benches and some walking paths. The current bathroom appeared to be of the portable type. read more

I love exploring the city parks of Tacoma and Seattle and lately I've been kicking myself for not going to some of these parks sooner. Charlotte's blueberry Park is one of those. This park is unique and totally awesome to other nearby parks because if you come here during blueberry season you can come and pick your own blueberries.... for free! While there are a lot of blueberry bushes and potentially lots of berries as well when it's in season it wouldn't surprise me that berries could be hard to find if the whole city comes here but that is me only guessing... I'd need to go when they are in season to see for myself. Another thing I like about this park is that it contains the urban food forest idea and while Seattle has a food forest as well when I went there there were quite a few plots that were said to be private and that the general public should not pick anything in these plots. That situation simply doesn't exist here... all the bushes are for the general public... even if it is just one kind of fruit rather than a potential variety of things to choose from. Even when it isn't blueberry season here there are very peaceful paved and unpaved paths to walk on and a lot of picnic tables to enjoy a meal under the trees. Really a nice park! read more

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Paved walking paths, picnic tables, beautiful trees and so, so many blueberry bushes! End of August, some berries tart, some amazingly sweet...if they pulled off the stem easily, they were good. What a delight to wander through the bushes, sampling berries! read more

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This place rules. Seriously. I went blackberry picking earlier in the day along a trail, then came here in the afternoon. The next day, I made NINE half-pint jars of "Black and Blue" pectin-free jam! I was worried that it was going to be really picked over because...free blueberries. This place is SO BIG and there are berries that aren't ripe on every bush, so you're guaranteed new ripe ones every day! Wear sunblock and bring water! read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

Lots of bushes and plenty of room to space out from everyone and do your own thing even when it's busy. Be prepared for bees read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - Blueberries - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

This place is amazing! And it's history is amazing. Where else in the world can you go pick as many blueberries as you want for free!?!? Charlotte was an amazing women. Way ahead of her time. Read her story and the parks story on the board in the front. What a gem. Tacoma we are lucky to have blueberry park!! Thank you Charlotte! Thank you metro parks! And thank you Tacoma! read more

We attended an wonderful annual event here called "Blueberries & Blues" last Sunday and had so much fun! It was our first time hearing of this event, actually it was our first time hearing of this Blueberry park at all. Charlotte's is hidden in a area of Tacoma that we rarely visit so hearing of this place would've been impossible without social media. I checked local events on Facebook and found this blueberry festival and thought it would be interesting to attend. The park is located in a neighborhood, but very easy to find. When you get there you immediately see rows and rows of blueberry bushes all lined up. Since this is a public park, there is no entry fee and no charge for the blueberries you pick. You do however have to provide your own bag, or basket to place your pickings in. We spent about close to two hours picking and walked away with maybe 3lbs of Blueberries! There are large open fields to sit and rest. They have benches but laying out a blanket, or lone chairs will do as well. Lots of shade to relax under when it's hot. I'm. I didn't see a public restroom but there was a Porto potty provided by the event. We had such a great time we'll be returning here again hopefully before summer ends. read more

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You can't beat this place! Open dawn till dusk, you can go and pick all of the blueberries that you want. Organic, natural blueberry bushes as far as the eye can see. A fun, free experience and you can get a pretty good haul. read more

Charlotte's Blueberry Park - The haul! - Pick Your Own Farms Near Me - Tacoma, Washington

I took my kids here it was amazing there's a small park that they played at when they got tired of picking berries then went back to the picnic area and had a nice little picnic. There were people riding their bikes and painting in the park. Really peaceful wouldn't have thought it was there. read more

Pretty nice short trail, maybe two laps would be 1 lap around a regular track. Slight area for homeless people but I've never had any bad experience with them. Great land for picnics or playing fetch with your dog. read more

This is a great idea! I went with a couple of friends and we were able to pick tons of blueberries (I made pancakes with them). It's not easy to find berries in any bushes that are right off the path, the best ones involve walking deeper into the park. read more