Franklin Park is one of twelve parks in Prairie Village, KS. In my post about Buffalo Meadows, I found Lenexa parks' ratings from an area construction company. Well, they did one for Prairie Village too! Franklin Park comes in at a 9 on their scale. I would likely rate it even higher; it is such a fantastic park!
It is surrounded by rather fancy homes, particularly on Somerset Drive. A review on Yelp states, "You know that you're in a posh enclave when kids making mud pies at the park are wearing white tutus and red velvet frocks." Maybe it was the time of day that we were there, but I didn't feel like the crowd was filled with nannies, ladies who lunch, or snooty kids. Although, I don't care how put together you are or if you drive up in your Mercedes, I just care if you pay attention to your children!
Park amenities include:
- A large pavilion equipped with electric outlets, regular sized tables and child tables, and 2 four foot serving tables at the center of the pavilion.
- Picnic tables and benches spread throughout the park.
- Play equipment separated into three distinct areas: toddler friendly, for the older kids, and swings
- A grill at each end of the pavilion. The grills are built into stone and gorgeous.
- Exercise trail
- Baseball and soccer fields
- A sandbox filled with toys
- Nature play area and play stream
- Open space galore
- An abundance of trees that provide ample shade
One of the multitude of picnic tables. The one in the foreground actually has seat backs for the benches, making for more comfortable picnic dining. Pictured here is the play structure for younger kids, the pavilion, and behind that the bathroom. You can also get a sense of how shaded the park was. In fact, if you search for Franklin Park on Google Maps, you can't see the playground at all, for all the trees!
Turning to the left we have the two playground separated by benches and more picnic tables. The sandbox is closer to the toddler area.
And looking even further, there is the swings section.
Slim and Curly were anxious to explore more of the park after playing in the sandbox, but they needed to put their shoes back on first.
Behind and to the left of the swings, there are grassy areas. The open space is the only part of the park that's not shaded - you can rest under a tree, but it is not the same full cover that the playground receives.
Here you can get a better sense of the intermittent trees in the open area. I love how some are all in a row.
The boys' favorite feature was the tire swing!
Just some more angles on the older kid portion of the playground.
The most unique aspect of the park is the nature play area and play stream. The water was not on, but it made for a great place to explore and Slim called it an obstacle course. I'm not certain, but I believe the stream operates in warmer weather, perhaps starting around Memorial Day. Do any Johnson County residents have insight on this?
The dry stream bed.
Behind Slim and the nature play area, you can see part of the curved wall foot path entrance to the park.
Curly caught mid-jump!
To the right is part of the walking/running/biking trail.
Roomy kid tables.
One of the two grills.
In the background is the second of the grills. In the foreground is one of the serving tables in the pavilion.
Bathrooms.
The trail map.
Franklin Park has a lot going for it and although it was our first time, I'd consider it one of my favorites.
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