Thomas Park
Hey Everybody!
Today I’m giving you the details on Thomas Park located at 343 Marion Blvd. in Marion, IA.
Thomas Park features a large plays structure, a smaller play structure, swings, a sandbox, a splash pad, and more!
To get there, you can go down Blair’s Ferry toward Marion and go right across 151/Marion Blvd. at the stoplight or, if you’re already on Marion Blvd/151, just turn into the park on what would be Blair’s Ferry Rd if it continued on past Marion Blvd. Clear as mud? ;)
Parking: There is a small parking lot right off the entrance from the road and a large parking lot a little further down closer to the pavilions. Both parking lots seem to be about the same distance from the play structures. I personally prefer the larger lot because there seems to be less ‘traffic’ over there and there are usually enough spots that I can park and have room to unload my whole crew and our gear from the mini van.
Other Features: Thomas park also features 3 pavilions, a climbing dome, at least one trail (that I have not really explored), and a building that I don’t know much about. If you have information about the building at Thomas Park, please fill me in in the comments!!
Bathrooms: There are bathrooms in a building over by the splash pad. I haven’t utilized them recently, but in the past I don’t remember them being problematic at all. They are quite a trek from the play structures and the sand, but there’s close for those playing at the splash pad. There is another building, like I said before, but I have no idea if it has bathrooms or if it’s even open to the public or not.
Surface: You will find wood chips in playground areas and sand in the sand pit (obviously). The splash pad has a regular plash pad surface like you’d expect. There are also grassy areas and sidewalks as well as paved trails, I believe.
Accessibility: At Thomas park, there is a ramp to access part of larger play structure, but there is a section of wood chips leading up to ramp, so that could pose a problem for wheels. The sidewalks and paved trail areas seem to be accessible to wheels and I think people of various abilities could enjoy the splash pad.
Toddler Friendly?: There are some baby swings at the park and the smaller play structure area is nice for smaller kids but it’s not great for teeny tinies. The littles could definitely enjoy the sand pit (as long as they are past the stage of putting sand in their mouths) and the splash pad.
Shade: Luckily, there are lots of mature trees near both play structures. There are some shade sails on top of smaller play structure and a few shaded areas on larger play structure. There’s not as much shade near sandbox or the splash pad. The pavilions do offer shade, though, and I’ve stood beneath the shade of a pavilion to protect the baby from the sun while watching the older kids play in the sand box.
Picnic-ability: Lots of picnic tables, 3 pavilions, and lots of shade from mature trees make Thomas park a fantastic place to have a picnic.
Water Feature: There’s a fun splash pad, which I believe is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day for the summer!
Pros: My favorite parts of Thomas park are that there’s quite a bit of fun stuff to do there, lots of places to picnic and good photography opportunities with nice trees in the background. (Fun fact - My husband and I did post wedding photos here! Shout out to CTW photography for this gem (below). I believe they no longer do wedding photography, but I do still follow both of the women who did the photography on social media. Tanya happens to be killin’ it on TikTok with her cookie decorating videos. You can check out South Street Cookies online.) Anyway….
Cons: As usual, it can be hard to keep track of multiple kids across all the different play features, which is something that seems to be a theme across these posts. Maybe one of these days I’ll share some of my tips and tricks to keep your clan together and safe at larger parks and play spaces. The one other con is that it can be tricky to make sure your kids keep sand out of splash pad since those two features are fairly close together so just make sure to lay out the expectations ahead of time and be diligent with watching them since I’m guessing sand in the drains could really do some damage and I’d hate to see that splash pad go out of commission.
Overall, Thomas park is a fan favorite (and while you’re in the area, go check out The Family Room Toddler Play Cafe, which is just one street over in the Indian Creek strip mall behind the building that used to be McDonalds. I’m for SURE going to do a post about that place in the near future because it’s freaking fantastic.)
Again, let me know in the comments if you have more info on the Thomas Park building! I think I read that Marion Parks and Rec hosts events outside at Thomas park and maybe inside in a building as well.
Have you been to Thomas Park? What did you think?
