Maurie Jacobs City Park
Maurie Jacobs Park is a nice little place off the beaten path if you want to get there by car. In reality though, this park is part of a large network of parks that stretch along the south side of the Willamette River as it cuts through the center of Eugene.
You may walk through Maurie Jacobs Park without even knowing it if you start out on a walk through the lower portion of Skinner Butte Park headed west. The best way to get to Maurie’s park by car is to turn East onto Fir Lane from River Road. Follow the little road due east and you will find there is no place to go but this little park.
You will be met by a parking lot lined with trees in the center and on your left and right. You can park in a shaded parking spot or in full sun (depending on if the UFO is out or not). Did you know that there is a running joke in Eugene about UFOs? Yep, the ‘Sun’ is an Unidentified Flying Object, but let me not digress.
From Skinner Butte Park heading west you will pass by areas that the City of Eugene has designated as parks, each with its very own name. First you will stroll by the Owen Rose Garden, then Sladden Park. As the bike/walking path strays from the Rivers Edge, the path curves toward the rivers edge again and if you stay to your right where the path splits, it is likely you will miss Maurie Jacobs all together.
Maurie Jacobs Park is really just a place to play soccer, get a drink of water or find a secluded spot to hang with friends or spend some time in solitude. There are a few picnic tables with the checkerboard or Chess boards built right on the table tops. You will find these near a sandy area with a playground nestled under the trees.
Either way Maurie Jacobs is home to many community sports activities that need a space with soccer goals, a small set of aluminum bleachers for the spectators and a place to occupy the kids because they don’t care if mom or dad is out there running around playing soccer.
Blink and you will miss Maurie Jacobs Park. Enjoy your park exploration in Eugene as it is one of the efforts put forth by the City to make Eugene the 8th ‘Best Walking City in America’ by the American Podiatric Medical Association in 2005.
Editor’s Note: The foot/bike path that runs east-west through what is actually Kiwanis Park, on the north side of Skinner Butte Park, is the path that will lead to Owen Rose Garden, Maurie Jacobs Park and then West Skinner Butte Park respectively. The parking mentioned above is located at West Skinner Butte Park.
Written by Alison Silveria for DiscoverEugene.com
Photos by Alison Silveria
