Parks and Facilities

Ramsett Park is Pawnee's most-visited park.

It is the former site of a Wal-Mart which was converted into a state-of-the-art park in 1986. The park has still retained the flavor of the 80's through its themed playground and bright murals.

In recent years, Ramsett Park has been the site of numerous community activities, including the Pawnee International Cuisine Festival, kindly sponsored and fully catered by Christina's Bagels. In 2003, residents dedicated a bench to Councilman and Mrs. Wendell Partch-Frome, after the couple created a fund supporting an annual Ramsett Barbecue. The Ramsett Barbecue became a lasting tradition until it was curtailed in 2007, due to insufficient sanitation regulations.

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 11:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Saturday: 11:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Sunday: Closed

Harvey James Park is Pawnee's second nicest park and number two "Most Beautiful Place", according to a 2010 survey of local residents. The main feature is the massive Great Lawn, modeled on Frederick Law Olmsted's famous Sheep's Meadow in Central Park, in that they are both large fields.

Harvey James Park is home to the Pawnee Camper Palooza summer camp program. Signs ups are available now for this coming season.

Register here for PCP

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 9:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.

Saturday: 11:45 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to 7:15 p.m.

The William Percy Recreation Center is a recreation center in Pawnee. The center almost had to cut many of its classes but continued to offer them after Leslie Knope paid $1,000 restitution to the recreation center so no classes would be cut. It also has a basketball court.

The center offers a variety of classes including:

Accounting

Belly dancing

Caricatures

Cooking

Coping with Terminal Illness

Fencing

Organize Your Life

Origami

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 10:15 a.m. to 8:15 p.m.

State Record Holder: Smallest Park in Indiana!

What this park lacks in size, it makes up for in... lack of size! That's right; move over Terryville, because the smallest park in the state of Indiana just landed in Pawnee!

This park sits on a very unique site, not just as the location of Pawnee's last remaining telephone booth, but also as the only area in Pawnee bigger than three feet in diameter to have witnessed zero Native American atrocities.

So, come one, come all - but no more than three (maximum capacity) - and see for yourself what many passersby are calling "a small park."

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday – Sunday: 24/7

The Pawnee Zoo was founded sometime in the 1850s or earlier and is one of the oldest zoos in North America, with over 250 species of animals on display. In 1914, a Jewish ornithologist was mistakenly placed in the zoo when the mayor, who had never seen a Jewish person before, thought he was a some kind of alien creature. He was later released with a full apology. Similar incidents apparently also occurred with Catholic, Amish, and Unitarian people.

In 2009, Leslie Knope accidentally "married" two gay male penguins in the zoo in the episode "Pawnee Zoo", earning her support from the town's gay community and outrage from the Society for Family Stability Foundation. Leslie ultimately relocated the penguins to Iowa, where gay marriage is legal.

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Tucker Park's sticky grass is due to an unexpected by-product of the Sweetums factory nougat run-off.

The new cylindrical steel canisters at Tucker Park are simply benign "collection tanks" being monitored for a new federal government study. Please do not mistake the canisters for trashcans though, as discarded objects and passersby could spontaneously ignite.

Parents needn't worry about the hypodermic needles discovered in the sand at Tucker Park. The sandbox's natural bacteria have rendered them virus-free.

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 11:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.

Saturday: 11:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Conceived in 1897, Circle Park was named so because the park is a near-perfect circle. Over the years, the Park's boundary lines have been redrawn so it now more closely resembles a long, thin landing strip, but the name lives on.

In the 1980s, Circle Park, like the rest of the country, fell on hard times. There were reports of gang violence, and drug use. But that was twenty years ago! Don't believe the bad press. But just to be safe, maybe take your biggest friend, and review all of your rights under the recently-updated Pawnee Knife Codes.

In an effort to clean up Circle Park, the Parks and Recreation Department recently vowed to turn every discarded tire thrown into the park into a tire swing. There are now over 200 tire swings. The park is pretty much just tire swings.

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 10:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Saturday: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sunday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Remember the first time you watched a romantic movie in which the two lovers have a tender moment in a park? No doubt you thought to yourself, I wish I could find true love and live happily ever after with Richard Gere.

Well, we can’t promise you Richard Gere, but if you visit Wamapokestone Park, we can promise you’ll meet your soulmate!

Wamapokestone Park was established in 1848 over the shared grave of nineteen-year-old Wamapoke bride Hair-Like-Fire and the love of her life, Jedediah Smalls, a white settler.

The grounds are a wonderful location for any love milestone, whether it’s a first date or first wedding. There’s also a beautiful rose garden memorial statue to commemorate the spot where flowers and plants used to grow. But the main attraction of Wamapokestone will always be its medium-sized fountain. According to legend, if you hold the hand of your lover and throw a penny into the fountain, the two of you will be together forever. If you throw trash in the fountain, you will be required to pay a $50 fine.

Visitors can enjoy some shade under the grand oak “love tree,” named so because of the carved initials found on the bark.

Facility Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 11:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.