Jose Del Valle Park

A very nice, clean park. I was here today for the Memorial Day dedication. Lots of sidewalks for walking, trees and grass. There is a new playground that kids will love and the plane monument is also a nice fixture.

The park is spacious and clean. There were a couple of tables and benches there for picnic. The park also had grilled installed next to the table.
The park also had a good size basketball court with 6 – 8 hoop. Right next to the basketball court is the children playground. They have the swing, slide, and a fire truck the kids can play with. There a gate around the playground.
Another feature the park have is a working restroom and it pretty clean each time I visited the park.
I did see the park workers driving around and taking out the trash.
Overall, the park is nice.

As a lifetime Lakewood resident, Airplane Park was and is a staple of my youth/​lifetime. I’ve been coming here since I was a baby, and my mother would take me to the concerts in the parks and all of the holiday festivals, and the trick-​or-​treating in the park! The​.well​.in my opinion funniest, in my mother & middle sister’s opinion meanest/​most painful, memory was coming here with my grandma and my sister B. We are 2 years apart, and she always thought she could one up me. Well, we fought over the monkey bars. I went the right way, she got mad and went to the wrong end and came towards me. long story short, we chicken fought with her legs, I knocked her off. and she fractured her elbow. Now, any one with competitive siblings knows it’s not funny until one or you gets hurt. My mom grounded me, and my sister got a cast for like. 2 months or something. Let’s just say that I wasn’t allowed to go on the monkey bars without supervision anymore (*_​*)
Anywho, Jose Del Valle Park, better know as the aforementioned Airplane park, is located on Woodruff just before Centralia, next to the elementary school. The park is fairly large for being located in a residential area, though Lakewood seems to have done a decent job with providing large areas for their community to interact outdoors. Some cities don’t offer that, so I count myself lucky to have grown up in an area that offered such expansive play areas. Not only is the park large, it is extremely well maintained. They have 4 baseball fields, 1 little kids playground, several basketball courts and 1 playground that is currently under construction with a new theme! It will be airplane themed to go along with the newly constructed Veteran’s Memorial Plaza, hosting a newly restored airplane (^_​^) I was really sad when they took it out last April, but was super excited to attend the unveiling on Memorial Day this past May! Along with all of this the park also offers several shaded picnic areas, and plenty of open grassy areas under the huge trees. perfect for birthday partys, bbq’s, family reunions, etc etc. And as long as you are a lakewood resident, it’s super easy to rent space. The facilities are well maintained, important, especially for a park that is as busy as this one. It plays host to several after school programs such as the Lakewood Pop Warner Cheer and Football teams in the spring months, as well as baseball and softball programs. Through the vity, the parks hosts all sorts of free events from holiday festivals, arts and crafts vendor shows, car shows, free summer concerts, and all sorts of other fun activities to partake in, whether you do or don’t have children. They make sure the whole community feels welcomed! I love attending the events here as it is a great way to interact with your neighbors and just go have fun with the people you live around.
There is a few homeless people that hang around here, but they have never bothered me, mostly they keep to themselves. In the evening occasionally we will see a small group of teens trying to do a low key smoke out once it gets dark. They isolate themselves in the far back corner of the park for the most part. The park employees are nice enough and do a wonderful job at keeping the park in great shape and clean for everyone. I also love that on the backside of the park on the center hill, the city of Lakewood planted a tree for one of their former park services employee, my boyfriends and my friend C, as he passed away far, far too young. They planted it in his memory, for his services and as a token to his family. It’s a lovely gesture and we always stop by to just say hello to one of my bf’s longest friends, and take a moment to remember that life is short. It’s pretty neat in my opinion.
It’s a great park, I can’t say anything bad about it, I’ve been coming here for…24 years now. I must like it right? (^_​^)

I live walking distance to this park, and frequent the park at different times during my regular runs. It is true that in the evening there are sometimes some homeless people around the park bench /​bbq areas, and there are sometimes teenagers that smoke out in the park, but I have never had any issues even when I run after 8pm. Most of the time even in the winter months, there are still people out enjoying the park after dark, this includes little league football teams, basketball players, and regular folks that run and walk for fun. Overall, the park is very clean and safe.

very easy to reserve (as long as your a Lakewood resident its free).
Came here to get ideas, to decorate, How my tables will be set up and etc. (I like to. visual).
I came here a couple of times, for there Thursday (July) Night Concerts they had.
Its Also known as the Airplane Park.

I have mixed feelings about this park because it is my home park.
Pros: huge neighborhood park where tons of owners walk their dogs, parents play with their kids, youth sports leagues hold their team practices, young men play basketball at a very nice and spacious court, and lots of space to have parties
Cons: a lot of suspicious people. Would not let my young children (if I had any) hang out unsupervised. In the evening, there are always random individuals who park and hang out in their car doing suspicious activities. Recently, I’ve seen that a lot of homeless people camp out in the tenting area throughout the day. They seem harmless but my main concern is just that this park just doesn’t seem safe.

I like this park, they have two play structures for the kids (one gated) and a wading pool that’s open in the summer. Even though the pool is about two feet of water, my kids still enjoy it! We don’t come often to this park, but when we do we have a good time.

TOT LOT IS A PAIN AND THE WOMEN WHO RUN IT ARE RUDE!!!
The park itself is beautiful and we love coming in the evenings. Daytime is another story. There are two playground parks here, one for bigger kids and one for little kids. There is a Tot Lot activity on the one for little kids every week day from 9 – 12. When I was pregnant with my now 2 ½ year old I couldn’t wait until he was old enough to go to Tot Lot. It sounded like a great idea. Crafts, storytvime, sing-​a-​longs, free play and snacks. Boy was I wrong.
Before he was walking I would take him there in the mornings and push him on the swings and play with him a little while Tot Lot was going on. Other than telling me to park my stroller in a designated spot things were fine. When he was walking, I took him to Tot Lot for a «trial run.» Let me tell you, the ladies at the gate are rude. If you show up early, they will YELL at you to wait (even though I had made no attempt to enter). There is free play in the beginning. The toys are all broken and in same cases (as with the ride-​on toys) dangerous.
There is very little supervision on the playground. Kids will pummel the little ones and nobody says anything. The ladies just bark orders at these kids to line up or sit down or move to the next activity. It’s overly structured for such little tots. It’s supposed to be a pre-​school type of activity. My mom taught «Tots» for several years and did it with compassion and love. This is a chaotic free-​for-​all during playtime and a structured «boot camp» during activities where I witnessed NOBODY actually guiding children on social behaviors or providing comfort for those who were uncomfortable or downright distraught and traumatized.
Finally, I witnessed one little boy bullying the other children. He pinched and pushed other children without anyone saying anything. He yanked toys away and bullied his way through. One little girl was trying to climb a piece of equipment and this kid pulled her off making her fall to the ground. Then he proceeded to kick her as she lay on the ground. NONE of the supervisors said anything so I yelled for him to stop. The girl got up and ran away and this boy ran after her trying to punch her. That’s when I realized his mother was IN CHARGE! She hadn’t seen him kick the little girl, but then when she saw the little girl hiding from her son behind a supervisor she said, «He’s trying to tickle her.» Totally making excuses for her out of control kid. The kid’s name was (of all things) Boom-​Boom. I’m not joking.
I decided right then and there not to join Tot Lot. This is the ONLY park within walking distance from my home. So deciding not to join I took my son to just «play at the park.» As we entered we were barked at to sign in. Then I was told I could only be a «guest» once a month. I went to push my son on the swings and we were barked at again that we had to stay on a designated side of a rope. This is a joke. This entity can not HIJACK a public park every single day. The larger playground is too big for my son and I’m not about to enroll him in that joke of a Tot Lot. I have to load up my son and drive him to Liberty Park rather than subject him to the rude dictators at Del Valle Tot Lot.
I have to add one disclaimer that there were some background volunteers who were «trying,» but the women who actually run the thing were just awful.

Two playgrounds one for smaller children, plus a wading pool for toddlers. This park has plenty to offer, is well shaded and throws the Thursday night concerts during the summer for the city of Lakewood. The basketball courts (4) are always busy for a pick up game. I have never seen or experienced a problem here with difficult people. If you live nearby, this is a good park to make use of.

DOG UN-​FRIENDLY PARK…
Earlier today, I attended the annual Memorial Day ceremony that the city of Lakewood holds at the park. That aspect went well.
The thing that captured the 1-​Star rating was when some park workers approached me, and a friend, to tell us that our two quiet, on-​leash, not causing any sort of distraction and/​or disruption, Australian Shepherds were not permitted in the park. They suggested that we should either walk them through on the cement pathways or sidewalks, or put them in the car (on a warm day) until we were done with the ceremony…
So, as my friend walked away with her dog, a pair of workers continued to harass her, and others, even as they were on the cement pathway, city sidewalk, and even on the street (Woodruff). As for myself, I walked mine into a group of people just off to the side (on a cemented area) without further BS from them.
Honestly, what made this worse was that we were not the only dog owners in attendance. Additionally, not all of them were talked to by the park workers. If you’re going to apply the rules for one person, then it needs to be done for ALL… which wasn’t the case. Finally, missing were posted signs saying that dogs or bicycles (for which I was related a story, from an older gentleman — possibly a Korean War veteran — about his own experiences with the workers and himself on a bike) were not allowed.

Have come here for years and its a good park. Its the family Easter hang out. Always called it air plain park but this year I looked it up on Unilocal and to my surprise it has a real name.

My childhood park. Im glad to see its still a great place to hangout.

Great all around park. 1^st, you can park in the share so your car isnt hotter then the day lights when you get back in it. 2^nd, nice toddler playground that is fenced in and has shaded (toddler) picnic tables. But my favorite is the wadding pool. During the summer it is open mon, wed, and friday on top of the year round weekends. Only down side is it closes at 4pm.

Great park with many amenities, including basketball courts, baseball fields, school age and toddler playgrounds, and a rental facility. It is also home to Summer Concerts in the Park. It doesn’t have a parking lot, so you’ll need to park on the adjacent streets, which can get a little hectic during their concerts or if multiple games are being played.