Tarkington Park

This is a very cute park! There are 2 parks, a tea shop and a splash pad. We came here on a hot day, and the kids had his of fun! There's also a basketball court, swings and plenty of parking. Grown ups can sit around the splash pad or park on the benches, but there's not a lot of shade. Bring a towel for the ride home.

For a good majority of my life, I have lived in rough neighborhoods.

It started as a child growing up in the area now known as International Marketplace, or more accurately, just a wee bit northwest of it. I lived in what was definitely known as one of the roughest areas of Pike Township.

I've lived at 71st and Michigan Road, on the near southside, and in a handful of areas that ranged from economically challenged to downright dangerous.

For a couple years, I lived right at 38th and Meridian in the 20-story high-rise right on the corner. It put me within a few blocks of the hospital where I worked and as an on-call crisis clinician proximity was important. It was a rough area, but it remains one of my favorite places I've ever lived here in Indy even with the elevator that had a tendency to breakdown leaving me to climb down nine flights of stairs on those nights I would get called in.

I grew to love Tarkington Park even before its renovation around 2016. Oh sure, it could be a bit rough around the edges but I never had any problems in the park and I was well aware of its importance to the Black community.

The transformation of Tarkington Park was initially met with resistance. It was an important gathering place for the Black community from surrounding neighborhoods and there was a legitimate fear that would disappear. Initially, those in charge of the project didn't listen well. Over time, that began to change. Compromises have happened - it used to host a lot of youth football and while it still does host it there's less room for that type of sport.

However, most agree that an awful lot of good has happened in Tarkington Park. Tarkington Park is named after Booth Tarkington, a novelist and dramatist who was born and died in Indianapolis. He's one of only four novelists to have one more than one Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He was also an Indiana State Representative. And yes, he really lived in the area now known as Butler-Tarkington.

Tarkington Park offers a ton of amenities including a children's play area, a splash plaza, a lawn for field sports, a performance shelter, basketball courts, tennis courts, walking paths, and the cafe which is now Tea's Me Cafe (owned by women's basketball icon Tamika Catchings). The park also offers restrooms, quite a bit of parking, and is within walking distance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, North United Methodist Church, and a variety of shops. Accessibility is not perfect, however, it's surprisingly good. There is accessible playground equipment here and there's quite a few places that are level to the ground. There's even some wall-climbing and other specialized playground equipment.

There's no question Tarkington Park has a more diverse attendance than it did pre-renovation. I think part of this is the newness of the park, some of it is a sense that it's safer here these days (Yes, there is crime in Butler-Tarkington but it's a much safer area than it was even a few years ago). Again, I've never felt unsafe here.

Special events are held here fairly regularly. For the most part, the park has remained looking nice over the past few years. While there's a noteworthy lack of shade, I can't help but think the open concept is somewhat intentional in terms of safety. However, there's just a really good vibe here most of the time even if from a business aspect this area still struggles a bit - the Happy Brewery died quickly and the building has been hit by vandals. Some of the adjacent strip center storefronts are empty. CVS and Burger King went away and Crew Car Wash moved in across the street. The hospital where I used to work six blocks away is now long gone.

When I was looking to buy my home, I heavily considered the Tarkington Towers condos at 40th and Meridian. I love this neighborhood and would have loved living here. Ultimately, I moved east into, you guessed it, a much rougher area where I still live.

However, I drive by Tarkington Park every single day on my way home and it's so wonderful to see the park busy, vibrant, diverse, and contributing to the ever-increasing stability of this neighborhood. If you've never stopped here, you definitely should.

Wow, this neighborhood park has a lot to offer. Giant playgrounds on both sides, basketball courts, tennis courts, huge splash pad, rest rooms and of course the Tea's Me shop.

This park would be welcome in any neighborhood, but I am glad that this neighborhood is the recipient of it. Here it really uplifts the area.

This is a great spot to take your kids, play a game with your friends, bring a blanket and have a picnic or even just find a shady spot and read a good book.

What a beautiful park right in the thoroughfare. There's a huge beautiful church close by playing beautiful hymns on the beds each hour. There are two full and two half basketball courts, a huge playground with state of the art equipment. The metal slide is too hot in the sun, but everything else is great. Bring a towel for your kids to sit on going down the slide. Lots of grassy hills with turf, so no mud. Clean restrooms, loads of trash cans, shaded tables. Ample parking and seating for parents. 6 beautiful fenced in tennis courts, plus the old park from before renovation is still here. Great for all ages.

Sadly, the huge splash area was damaged by a thief, so it's currently out of order. That breaks my heart because it's such a beautiful new park that cost so much to build. It's sad that a selfish person ruins the fun for a whole community. Shame on them.

This is a wonderful neighborhood park located down the street from the Children's museum. The have glider swings for adults to just hang out and relax, they have 2 half and two full basketball courts, 6 tennis courts, 2 playground areas, an outdoor amphitheater and a huge grassy area to play on.

One playground area is very modern. It has a bunch of rock climbing walls, saucer swings, music area (chimes, xylophones...), some huge metal slides ( i am sure they get hot), some checkerboard tables, a a round net climbing thing, climbing rope and swings. It is lined with a rubbery mat surface and has artificial grass covered hills all around.

This side of the pack is where you will find the two half basket ball courts and the glider swings. In the center of the park is a tea shop and some restroom facilities. The amphitheater and grassy field is located right behind the restroom facility.

On the other side of the park is a large, but flat splash pad and two full basketball courts. The courts are OK, but one is clearly better maintained than the other. There is a parking lot adjacent to the courts and right by the second play area. This play area is more traditional and had a large jungle gym with slides and an older set of swings. It is an accessible play area.

The park has a covered shelter by this playground area that has picnic tables and a grill. On the same side of the park is a large bank of tennis courts. If I were to give the courts a grade I would give them a B. They are adequate and will definitely get the job done.

This park has tons of parking available. There is a private lot, as well as tons of free street parking around the park's perimeter. The park touts a nice walking path, but I would probably not use it for running because it is very small. You will find tons of seating around the park, especially around the basketball courts, splash pad and playground area.

This is a nice newly renovated park that is pack with amenities and worthy of a visit, especially for those families looking to kill some time heading to or coming from the Children's Museum.

Overall I really enjoyed bringing my daughter to this park , they have a hard top side that's farely new and they have a regular playground area . It was very chill when we was here no drama or anything like that . It was also very convenient that dollar general was walking distance right across from the park , parking lot so very easy to walk to and grab drinks

Fun and newly renovated (2017). I love this park and so does my 9 & 7 year old kids. We last went on a cold, but sunny day. There are musical instruments for the kids to play (one is missing it's drum sticks - but that is not the fault of the park). It is clean and I love that the ground is turf - keeps the mud away on those damp days. There are also basketball courts and there is a portion of the park with grass and shade for those not-damp-yet-hot-days.

Free street parking makes it nice and easy to get to. The city did well to renovate this park and make it an inviting place to play and hang out.

This park is disgusting. It has the potential to be nice, but it is damaged, littered, filled with vagrants, and people smoking pot. Lots of the benches have parts missing, trash is strewn everywhere, weeds grow in the mulch, graffiti covers the bathroom doors, and it's generally a sad looking spot. It has so much potential, but it's ruined by the people who misuse it. It could be such a bright spot in the neighborhood, but I do not feel safe bringing my children here. There even appears to have been a fire on the playground which melted the rubber. See photos attached.

First off...all I can say is "wow" ... what a cool and unique park!! The park side has a lot more too it than the splash pad portion...but, both seem to bring a lot of smiles and joy to the kiddos!

Playground
This area has a terrained feature (hills to clim/roll down/slide down) then flat areas as well. There are places for them to make music....along with places to spin round and round. There is even a wall and a hill section that had the rock climbing grip holds. And slides...we must not forget slides!!!

Splash pad
Multiple spots where water shoots out of the ground...including rock formations...compared to other splash pads, this is the least interactive (no dumping water spots or bowls filling and dumping)....which bring simple is more enticing to get your 3 and younger involved.

In summary...this park has something for each of the senses (aside from smell...although sweaty kiddos can add the smell factor...lol) definitely a park to put on the list! I

This park is lots of fun! The 7 year old loves the merry go round, climbing structures and splash pad. The 20 month old loves the baby swings, the chimes that make music and a concrete tunnel to crawl through.

There is very little shade unless you sit or stand the right up against the building. On hot and sunny days the rubber surface is really hot and the metal slides will fry little legs.

Just north of the new playground and splash pad is the old playground. This playground has shade during some parts of the day.

The splash pad has some "rocks" that bubble up water which is perfect for toddlers to play at.