What a great park! I'd never been to Owensboro before and just came to try Fetta Pizza which was recommended by locals. Kudos to Owensboro for creating such a nice area on the river. Fun shops and restaurants and the park is so creative. Awesome for families and everyone. Indy should steal this developments ideas for its White River. read more

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Smothers Park is a beautiful and clean family park. There are activities for all ages of children, and plenty of places for parents to sit and enjoy the view. There are bridges, a hollow tree, a climbing wall, a large slide, and plenty of places to play hide and seek. This park and the Riverwalk are my favorite places in Owensboro. read more

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Awesome park I took my family too while we were in Owensboro. Great family fun park with many slides and swings for kids. They also have a wonderful walking trail on the river and many sites to see and enjoy. Excellent much recommend place read more

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Right on the banks of the Ohio River, Smother's park is the place to take your children to burn off that excess energy. The play area is absolutely ginormous, with lots of slides and things to climb on. Recycled tire covering the ground helps keep little knees and elbows from scrapes and cuts, and cushions the steps of us older folk. There are even porch-type swings for the adults to enjoy while watching the littles. The only (slight) negative is that there aren't many shady areas (unless you're under the play equipment) but they do provide free sunscreen to help combat sunburn. read more

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The downtown riverfront and Smothers park is one of the best parts of Owensboro. The downtown area is clean and well maintained. The playground is huge and great for kids of all ages. The views of the river from downtown are amazing and the large paved walking path along the river is really nice with a lot of benches along the way. If you want an even better view of downtown, get on the top floor of the parking structure. There are a few restaurants along the river but most are within walking distance one block away. Would recommend going to the downtown riverfront and smothers park for a nice stroll along the Ohio river. read more

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Nice clean and what a view ! My granddaughter can get some of her energy out . Love this park

Public parking is too close but the park is good. The kids can actually have fun. There's something there for all age groups

My girls love going to this park. I only wish I could sometimes read a book while they play but it's not a park I feel comfortable letting my 7yo roam with my eyes on her. read more

Great place to get away on a nice day. Bring the kiddos and let them play at the playground while you swing by the river. The kids will have a blast- and so will you! read more

Tha place very nice take a walk right by the river grate place to drank some coffee love Chas

When in Owensboro and needing a nice place to spend some free time, we always head downtown to the river's edge. Downtown has many shops and eateries alike to properly spend the day. But our main focus is always the Park. Kids and adults of all ages enjoy coming to the park with us. If walking is your thing, there is a great walkway around the entire park that gives you a beautiful place to walk freely about and get some exercise. The memorial is quite nicely set up to honor our fellow Americans that have paid the price for our nations' freedom with etched pictures in stone. The water fountains are quite beautiful day and night and make for gorgeous backdrops for taking pictures. Do be cautious because some will get you wet. Plenty of seating around the fountains to enjoy. The stair fountain is off the side appearing to be running off in the river. Take a seat in one of the wonderful swings overlooking the river, enjoy the breeze and talk to your loved one next to you. Very enjoyable spot! The "bat wing" has acoustic qualities where the kiddies can get under yell out and hear their echo. Friday's after Five Local Bands cone and Play for a nice treat. The play park area is quite magical really. The walking area is the spongy solid surface to deter scrapes for falls. The trees and critter statues about are quite lovely to look at and Play around. There are many swings, slides, things to climb on, walk through and play on. There are too many areas to mention really. But very special is the splash pad that shoots water. The children really enjoy this spot in the summer. In between the fountains and the play park is a large building that houses the public bathrooms and a concession stand with seating. Owensboro has several events here as well that are free. Admittance to the park is free as well. So when you find yourself in the area it is a great place to set a spell or to stretch your legs! read more

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Great playground for kids. Almost always crowded. Right on the river. Open for all ages just be careful of the older kids running when you have smaller children read more

It's really fun. Some punk kid was hogging the swings the whole time so my day was ruined. But had a cool tree to climb ‍

Smothers Park is the heart beat of the downtown Owensboro river front. Design for families by kids so that every aspect of their visit will be amazing. Owensboro has spend an enormous amount of money making this park very family friendly and a great place to visit. read more

Dope place to hang out but here's the tea...my personal opinion. Families - definitely recommend. The play ground is so big a cool but keep an eye on your kid loosing them might be easy in the playground. It also has a splash pad(but the chances of it being open are eh and when it is everyone and their mom is there) and a concession stand Adults - it has riverside seating and more private benches a little further away from the playground. Definitely recommend more evening times for dates and stuff. Less screaming kids and beautifully lit sidewalk at times. Teens - the concession stand is fire af ngl. And the fountains are a chill hang spot. read more

Beautiful, romantic, and relaxing. Scenery is breathtaking. Go after dark and see the bridge lit up with different colors. A+++

My daughter loves the play area & spray park! & I always enjoy taking photos of the sunrise & sunset overlooking the river with the Blue Bridge in the background. read more

Owensboro, I am impressed! Smothers Park & Promenade is better than I imagined. Smothers Park and Promenade is BIG. It spans five city blocks -- from the RiverPark Center on the east to Mitch McConnell Plaza on the west -- and puts to public use five acres of land. The 15-foot wide, shared use Promenade will eventually extend west to the currently under construction Convention Center (on the former Executive Inn site). Smothers Park includes interactive fountains and other architectural water features, concert and event facilities, an improved Shelton Memorial Park, a very large playground, spray park, concessions, restrooms, and generous space for strolling, rolling (wheelchair accessible), or sitting. The Shelton Memorial is named in honor of Colonel Charles E. Shelton, a native of Daviess County shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. The memorial honors Shelton's memory and that of U.S. POW / MIA from all wars. The signature granite fountain near Frederica Street is from the creative minds at WET Design, the company that designed the "dancing waters" at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The circular fountain with its ability to propel water many feet into the air puts me in mind of a scaled down, polished and modern version of Chicago's older & much more ornate Buckingham Fountain. I love the great many modern, metal, comfortable(!), bench swings facing the Ohio River along the length of the Promenade. There are stationary benches too. I could sit in one of those swings for hours watching the water and the barges and life flow by. The playground is HUGE and fantastical with giant fabricated trees and larger than life woodland and wetland creatures. There are many structures to crawl through, climb up, walk over, and slide down. There are overhead routes from tree to tree for those who walk or those who roll. Yes, the playground is wheelchair accessible too! The surface of the playground is soft and resilient and feels great underfoot. There's a generously sized spray park adjacent to the playground; spacious enough for 50 people to romp in during the warm months. What a great idea! Children are going to love this park! The Park and Promenade complement the beauty of the riverfront and feel like an extension of the river rather than an imposition upon it. The architects selected a warm palette of brick pavers, native limestone, travertine, and aggregate concrete then softened them with wooden pergolas, green spaces, and the Ohio River itself. Sight lines to the great river are never obscured. Our beloved Glover H. Cary Bridge, aka: The Blue Bridge, is always in view. One of the most stunning visual features of the Park is the waterfall which cascades 20 or 30+ feet (I'm guessing) down 200-foot wide, curved steps toward the Ohio River. The water in this feature had been turned off for the season when I visited, but the aerial shots of it are amazing! The sweeping stairs are visually interesting even without water. I have only one criticism of this wonderful space and that's the music being piped in. The river doesn't need a soundtrack. Let me hear the waves & wind, bees & birds, boats & barges, children playing. Perhaps Christmas music in December would be acceptable, but otherwise let the river speak for itself. read more

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Smothers Park is the best attraction in town. A true gem in Downtown Owensboro! There are fountains, swings, an amphitheater, seating areas, a large playground, bathrooms (and clean ones, I might add!), and a concession stand all spanning 5 blocks on the Ohio Riverfront. The metal swings facing the river are my favorite. There are plenty of swings and though they may look uncomfortable, looks are deceiving! There are tons of activities and concerts planned for the river front throughout the warmer months. We attended a free bluegrass concert last year, and the amphitheater on the river was perfect for hosting the concert. I cannot wait to attend more this year! read more

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I was born and raised in Owensboro. It's pretty crazy to think that our downtown looks this nice now. I remember when it was just a little park with a small playground, a fountain that kids were ALWAYS putting soap in and a war memorial. About 4 years ago they started to remodel the whole downtown river front. I moved to Nashville shortly before they started the renovations, but it was always neat to come back home and see the progress. To make this park bigger, since it runs along Veterans blvd, they actually added more dirt to the shoreline to make more space. I would say that Smothers Park is about 3 times larger than it originally was. Anyway, the park consists of a HUGE playground. I mean, this thing is massive. I makes me wish that I was a kid again. Why didn't we have stuff like this growing up?! Kids these days got it made. Anyway, it's such a huge park that it's actually won national awards, such as 2014 Kentucky Recreation and Park Society Outstanding Facility award AND USA Today's Top Ten Parks in the country. The playground is covered in some kind of squishy material that feels great on the feet and protect kids from cuts and scrapes. There is also 'grass' but its actually fake grass so you don't have to worry about mud. They've also got a spray park next to the playground and a concession stand that sells concession items during summer and I think after 4pm during the school year. The playground is flanked by two, large (concrete) sassafras trees. As you may or may not know, the worlds largest sassafras tree is located in Owensboro, right down on Frederica street. It's been a running joke with locals because the concrete trees supposedly cost 1 million dollars. People were outraged when the city got them, but seeing as how popular downtown is and the accolades it receives, they probably don't say much about it anymore. There are 3 different fountains with a water show every 15 minutes. There is a large set of steps that go down to the river. These cascading steps are actually a fountain, and every so often a large gush of water comes down. Pretty neat. Along with the fountains, there's a lot of seating for people that just want to come downtown to the river and watch the boats and barges go by. It's really quite peaceful by the cascading stairs. There you are a little aways from the playground and the kids yelling are a little more muffled. The park extends from The RiverPark Center all the way to the newly built Owensboro Convention Center. You're able to walk the river quite a ways. Along the way is a small amphitheater, (faux) green spaces and plenty of seating area. I can't get over how nice this looks from before. This is a true asset to Owensboro. With such a nice downtown, they're able to have the BBQ festival in May that attracts thousands to the city, Fourth of July and the Owensboro Air Show in September. read more

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Coolest park I've been to. Your children will not want to leave. Wet playground. Over 15 tunnel slides. All kinds of things to climb on. The water fountains are relaxing and even dance a bit. The views are lovely. The cascading waterfall was exhilarating. The designs of the walkways were cool. The statues interesting. The plants were lush. The "Oink Owensboro" Fiberglass pugs for a fundraiser were so cool! I found five of the ten. read more

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Away from home on business staying at the new Hampton and after dinner thought I would take a walk along the river. What a well executed plan to make the most of the natural terrain and turn it into a beautifully landscaped and manicured river walk with easy access to restaurants and bars. Love the swings...very relaxing on a summer evening. And that playground is massive...whoa!! Extremely impressive Owensboro!! read more

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Yumky :| nothing from their selection was anything above mid. I just wish that they actually cared about the quality of their foods.

Great place to take your kids! The playground is covered with softer material, which is great for children!

This place is awesome. I wish we had a park like this where I live. If it's warm out, don't forget to put the kids in their swimsuits so they can run around the splash pad. The park playground is amazing! Grown ups and kids both can have a good time running around on the equipment. There is live music sometimes and it is nice with the river in the background. The park is clean and always being monitored by police. Also, there are several spots around to walk to close by and enjoy a meal and some drinks. read more

Smothers Park - Parks Near Me - Owensboro, Kentucky

My children & I love this park! I very highly recommend visiting if you're visiting Owensboro.

We come to Owensboro for a bit of adult fun annually when we travel to the area for our family trip to Holiday World. We have found a lovely balance of crazy, sweaty, summer fun at Holiday World, and the clean, cultured town of Owensboro. The downtown is something to be proud of. Plenty of great food and drink to be had as well as entertainment. When we first planned this vacation years back we almost made the mistake of staying a little bit outside of Holiday World on the Indiana side. We are so glad we didn't! Honestly, if it had not been for Friday After 5 and the wonderful park and events that we discovered, we probably wouldn't have made this an annual vacation like it is now. Back home we rave about the variety of entertainment available, fun food trucks, and park. Coupled with staying at the Hampton Inn, it is the perfect combination for our family. Oh! and all the Pokemon stops make it even better for the kids. If only our town had anything remotely as nice as this park. I am amazed at how the locals don't realize what an amazing place they have here. read more

Dude this ain't 5 star but it's fun place family day or a concession stand type place

I love this park. My favorite thing to do is to relax in a swing in the river and listen to music. This park has something for everyone and is close to local restaurants. read more

I love this park. Nice walking area. Usually quiet at night, depending on what time you go of course. I love the views of the river :)

This is my favorite part of Owensboro I love going to the park and just enjoying the beautiful downtown river ambience and energy it's beautiful read more

In Owensboro for a couple of days. On the first night here, we had to check out Smothers Park. We'd already heard about the $1 million concrete trees, a fact I'm still trying to confirm, and had to see this park for ourselves. Even though we don't have children with us, and ours are frankly too old to take, we enjoyed walking through the jungle gym. We took our time walking over the spongy sidewalk material, strolling across the jungle gym to get better pictures of the park and the riverside view. Whether you're in town with a van full of toddlers looking for a place to entertain them without exerting too much effort, or old codgers like us just passing through for the night, Smothers Park is worth a stroll. read more

One of the best parks I have ever seen, located right on Owensboro's riverfront. The park has beautiful fountains, a HUGE playground for kids including spray park. They also have bathrooms, CLEAN bathrooms, & a concession stand that is only open at certain times. You can tell they put a TON of money into this place & I believe it was more than worth it to have a nice, safe place for children to get outdoors & have some fun. It can also be a very romantic spot to walk through for a date night! The best thing about this park is that there is almost always at least one police officer patrolling the grounds during daytime hours, so you can get a much better feeling of safety for your children. The only thing I do not like about this park is how packed it can get. My kids love it & beg to go all the time but we will usually go to one of the smaller parks around time to avoid how busy this place can get. It is so bad that a few times we decided to brave the crowd & go anyway, we ended up not being able to find a parking place anywhere & ended up somewhere else as a result. But, with that being said, you can tell just how amazing this pace is by how crowded it can get! This park has been one of the greatest addition to Owensboro & the views cannot be beat! read more

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Since the remodel a few years back, it's patrolled by police. There's always one there. There's also a police office nearby in case anything happens at the park. It has a long path to walk. Restaurants nearby. Friday after 5 is hosted 16 Fridays out of the year. Not a bad place to take the kiddos to burn off some energy. Overall I'd recommend a stop by at least once while visiting. read more

Very beautiful it's a very clean park nice water park for the kids big playground there's a big areas where you can play with your dogs nice place to take pictures nice concession stand for when your hungry an want a bite to eat while your at the park public bathrooms and seats everywhere an the fountains are beautiful read more

How different would Yelp reviews if you could just pull the image sequences from my mind To lay them out on a table to show everyone you know that magnificence of a location by constructing Little cities out of these memories of mine So that the hopes of your can run through them to Experience the beauty of Smothers Park As The Sun is setting On The Most Crystal Clear Day They Have Had This Year And the clouds do not even block the sun from the concrete trees and a stage A stage! Has music playing on it while babies dance in circles And someone is drinking a beer and another drinks a coffee on a Tuesday night And that is okay with everyone Everyone is one their way to somewhere Or expecting rain But the park is a break from transit It is perfection! Have you never seen fountains like this? read more

Wow, five stars worth. What an AMAZING riverfront park, I just couldn't believe how lovely it was. Curved brick-and-concrete walkways, thick as a highway at the newly poured edges, marble fountains and waterfalls, amphitheater, playground, and wonderful riverview seating. We looked at the nighttime river flowing by from a silver metal swing attached to a gazebo-like structure with brick accents, and saw similar seating extending 100 yards in either direction. What does a seat like that cost? What did the whole thing cost? According to one web page, there has been more than 70-million dollars invested in riverfront improvements, and nearly one-billion in new business-related development. In an age of great diversity and polarization, perhaps the most amazing thing is the fact that so many people could come together and make the dream of this park become a reality. It's worth a weekend visit. Go see it. read more

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This place is over the top for what appears to just be a municipal park. There are beautiful benches/swings all up and won the river bank. There are fountains that put on a show. There are concerts. Among the nicest things here is the childrens area hat contains the best equipped paly area I have seen in a public park. Water park area (not Kings Island mind you, but a nice sprinkler and fountain area). I think it is worth heading too even as an adult. read more

This is a must see for visitors to Owensboro. The kiddies will love it there and you will find peace just watching the kids and the river there. Also there's a Coldstone creamery nearby so the whole gang can get a treat. read more

Love this park and the whole family can benefit from it.the best park it's all free,water park free,park it's self free the kids really enjoy coming,we make it every Sunday experience read more

Smothers Park - Parks Near Me - Owensboro, Kentucky