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Woodward Park
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
9 reviews for Woodward Park
Every year the local Japanese cultural society hosts the Toro Nagashi ceremony at Woodward Park. Toro Nagashi happens at the end of the three-day Obon Festivel, a time to remember the dead. I guess the closest event on our side of the world would be Dia de los Muertos.
Toro Nagashi involves placing the names of deceased family members/friends on a lantern, along with any messages you might have for them, and setting it float on a lake or river. The lantern is supposed to represent the spirits of the departed returning to their realm. (During Obon, they're thought to come back and be among us.)
It's a very touching way of saying good-bye to someone you love.
I've participated in Toro Nagashi here twice, and was extremely impressed both times. The ceremony itself culminates in hundreds of illuminated lanterns floating on the lake, and it's really neat to see folks from all ethnic backgrounds and religions participating in this Japanese ceremony.
Because Obon, and therefore Toro Nagashi, is based on the solar calendar the exact days change every year, but it happens around the middle of July.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm NOT in any way an expert on any aspect of Japanese culture. This review is based solely on my interpretation of Obon and Toro Nagashi.
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Our family always come here for picnics! This park has it all! Great walking/biking/skating trails, lots of areas to bbq, playgrounds for the kids, and even a dog park. There is a lovely Japanese Garden with a huge coit pond. It costs only a few bucks and kids under a certain age are free. Lots of wedding pictures are taken here.
My favorite is the lakes full of ducks, geese and a couple of swans. I love taking a couple of bags of bread and spend the afternoon feeding them.
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The geese and ducks are scary! The place can be beautiful in various parts. Great for large functions. I think the fact that you live in Clovis gives you a larger entrance fee is stupid. I don't go there because of that.
I always enjoy myself at this park. Let me list the reasons:
#1 My lil girls 1st birthday was held here! We needed to have a place that would have 50 hungry mexicans, and their wild kids. Ta-Da. Perfect. It also has tons of trees, so it held the 90 pound pinata we had.
#2 My sister got married here. It was a small ceremony, in the Japanese Gardens. That area of the park is very pretty. There are beautiful bridges, ponds, and peacocks!
#3 They have ducks!
* Be careful when you feed them. These duckies turn into vultures when they see bread. And they will swarm you the way zombies do.
BUT............................................ since it is a nice and big park, you would get the inevitable shitty kids that are allowed to just play in the water fountain, and fuck with the duckies. Here's yet another example:
This fathers day we came here. There was a lot of us, and we shared a shelter (a lot of tables with a roof over it) with another family. It was fine, considering there was ample amount of tables in between us. Anyway we're eating, and I finish feeding my ONE year old. I take her out of her stroller, and throw away our plates. By that time one of her cousins was yelling, "NICHOLE!!!!!!! " I turn around and all I see is my lil girl crying, and this lil punk shit 2 year old behind her. I don't know what happened, but I put two and two together and ran over to her, then I yelled at that lil booger. "SHE'S A LITTLE GIRL, AND YOU'RE MUCH BIGGER THAN HER, YOU DON'T HIT LITTLE GIRLS!!!!!!!!!" I stopped when his eyes started to water. (It was his birthday party I figured I'll ease up on him)
After that his chola and gangster ass parents just stared at me they didn't even say anything. Now clearly if you saw my mouth vesus
my frame, you would have thought that his group would have killed me and had the chola girls rape me, but they KNEW that their lil brat had to of been doing something.
I asked the cousin of ours what happened and he said that he came up to her, and took her "princess" car and then started punching her in the back. My poor mija.
So again beware of shit kids roaming the park. But that's every park.
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It's been remodeled...you can go two directions now instead of one continuous loop. I give the park credit for that. There are some new playgrounds for small children, more kudos. The amphitheater has been covered so you don't roast at a Shakespeare play.
But otherwise, it's the same old park. Looks a little worn around the edges. You can hear the Hwy 41 traffic. The geese are everywhere. I don't feel compelled to be there.
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This is another one of those places that you should visit to forget that you are in a bigger city with tons of cars everywhere. I attended a wedding held here and afterwards, I spent hours and hours sitting on a bench feeding ducks and walking along the lake sides. Sounds like a cliche scene from a movie, but that's what happened.
I think Woodward is the nicest park in town. I like that it has a dog park, as I have 3 dogs that need room to run around.
The only thing you have to be careful of is people driving the wrong way on one way streets. It never fails, everytime we go there, we always meet that 1 person driving the wrong way.
It had been a tradition when I was younger to ride my bike here out on Xmas day when there was not a soul in site. Something mind clearing about being alone and surrounded by only nature. I've found a similar sensation while snowboarding in powder solo now but I think this is the place that I discovered that feeling of Zen. As a counter I've also spent many late night staying out post drinking and what not and sneaking in here to watch the stars. A great place to get away from the rapidly developing sprawl the city has become.
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I can't imagine what my childhood in Fresno would've been like without Woodward Park. It was always a safe place we could come play with our friends, from feeding the geese (beware, they bite!), playing on the multiple playgrounds, riding our bikes, going to birthday parties, participating in races, rollerblading, playing in the creek, the list goes on and on! Their facilities (restrooms, playground equiptment, benches, tables, etc) were always well maintained and safe. Yes, at times you do have to pay for parking, but it was always a pleasure to give a donation to a park that gave so much back to me. And if we didn't have the extra cash to pay for parking, we would always just ride our bikes for a little extra exercise. If you get a chance, be sure to visit the Japanese Gardens. It's a great place to take pictures, take a date on a romantic stroll, or just enjoy a nice afternoon. Woodward Park also has lots of trees to offer some much needed shade during those excrutiating summer days.