State Street Park

State Street Park is a relatively small park. Located on Dakota Street off of Barger, it is best designed for local neighborhood use. And unless you are a neighbor of this park, you probably don’t even know it exists, as there is no sign anywhere indicating that this is State Street Park.

A large open space contains a baseball diamond and there are some large shade trees around the outside of the park. On one side there is an area containing a climbing structure, swings and one slide. Two picnic tables are situated next to a wading pool that is now closed due to county health regulations. There is small fenced in sandpit next to the wading pool, but it doesn’t appear to have been used for awhile. In the backside of the park, an area has been turned into a bike park for jumping bikes where the neighborhood kids race, jump, perform stunts, and take an occasional tumble on their bicycles. This seems to be the most popular attraction of the park.

The bathrooms are closed and chained off and obviously have been for awhile and an infamous Buck portable potty suffices. There is one basketball hoop behind the bathrooms. Neighborhood kids have nicknamed the park “Litter Box” because it consists mainly of sand pits around the play structures and picnic tables and that is probably the biggest attraction of the park for the smaller children. Two large magnolia trees brighten up the park with their large white flowers and some thimble berries grow around the old wading pool. Scattered near the front of the park are some bright yellow day lilies that are in bloom in the spring and summer. Unless you are looking to play baseball, or you have a child who loves to play in the sand, or you live on a nearby street, you might find this park’s few amenities to be too few to suit your needs or desires.

Written by Sharon Phillips for DiscoverEugene.com

Photos by Sharon Phillips