East Bay Baby

Like an urban oasis (if Hayward can be properly termed “urban”), Kennedy Park sits on busy Hesperian Blvd., but the strategically planted tree line hides the constant flow of traffic.  In fact, once you’re in Kennedy Park, you can easily forget that you’re in the middle of Hayward.

There’s lots of parking here at Kennedy Park – not only is there ample street parking, but there’s also a dedicated parking lot.  This is important, because I assume Kennedy Park is incredibly busy on the weekends on holidays, when the “concessions” are open.  Alas, we went on a not-so-busy Wednesday morning, when nothing was open, and nobody but the Parks and Rec employees were at the park.  But that’s okay – my 11-month-old wouldn’t appreciate the rides anyway, and I was able to survey the park and take pictures without having pesky adults or kids run into the middle of my picture.

There’s a large playground here that looked clean and well-kept.  (The cleanliness might have been due to the fact that my visit corresponded to the day when the Parks and Rec people were at the park sweeping, cleaning, taking out the trash, etc.)  What amazed me about the playground was the number of swings – there were two sets of swings, each with about 5 swings each.  I’m used to playgrounds with only two to three swings total, where kids dissolve in tears while waiting for their turn on the highly coveted swing set.  One thing to note is that it’s not a gated playground, so parents will have to watch their kids to make sure they don’t run off into other sections of the park.

And boy, are there are many other sections of the park (which is quite impressive, as it’s not that big of a park).  There’s a little petting zoo (Triple Pines Ranch Animal Farm) with various animals like goats and ducks, prepared to endure the harassment of little children.  At this “Ranch”, you can fulfill the deepest wish of your young daughter and let her go on a pony ride.  And just maybe after riding these ponies, you can even dispel her notion that Santa should get her a pony for Christmas.  After all, these animals do smell like farm animals…

There’s also a carousel on Kennedy Park.  But the coolest thing, I thought, was the train.   Okay, I admit, I didn’t actually get to see this train, but signs indicated that the train does exist and train rides are offered.  I guess the train was hidden away to prevent vandalism.  The train tracks are along the circumference of the park.  If you have kids that are anything like my nephew or nieces, they’re probably obsessed with the Thomas the Train empire and would love to take a little train ride.

Lastly, there’s a little snack bar with reasonable prices  in case you or your kids are hungry.  And because I’m all about making information accessible, here’s the snack bar menu for planning purposes (current as of today, Dec. 2, 2009):

Root Beer, Dr. Pepper, Lemonade, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sierra Mist – S $1.00, M $1.25, L $1.50

Coffee, Tea, Hot Cocoa – $1.00

Hot Dog – $1.75

Burrito – $1.50 (It’s probably a safe bet that these aren’t SF Mission style burritos…)

Corn Dog – $1.50

Nachos – $3.95

Dill Pickles – $1.50

Roasted Peanuts – $1.00

Potato Chips – $1.00

Cotton Candy – $2.00

M&M’s – $1.00

Tootsie Pop – $.25

Pink Popcorn – $1.00 (Why is this popcorn pink?)

Hot Buttered Popcorn – $1.50

Ice Cream Sandwiches – $1.50

Fudgesicle – $1.00

Otter Pop – $.25

Tickets for the various rides and the Ranch can also be purchased at the Snack Bar.  Prices are as follows:

Train Ride – $1.50

Merry-Go-Round – $1.50

Triple Pines Ranch – $1.50

Pony Ride – $1.75

Tiger Bounce – $1.50

Special Discount Tickets For Train, Bounce, Merry-Go-Round, Ranch only:

Special Tickets – $4.00 good for 3-$1.50 single tickets

Package A – $30.00 good for 20-$1.50 single tickets

Package B –  $100.00 good for 100-$1.50 single tickets

Other useful information:

Hours: Concessions (Snack Bar, Rides, etc.) are open weekends, school vacations, and most holidays from 11:30am – 4:30pm, weather permitting.  The playground, however, is open outside of the above times.

Address: 19501 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, CA

Restroom Facilities: there are men’s and women’s restrooms here, and there’s a changing table in the women’s room.

Picnic areas: they have plenty of picnic benches, and there are various picnic areas can be reserved.  See Kennedy Park Facilities for more information.

What’s nearby: Next to the park is a huge Target (with a Starbucks inside) and a strip mall.  Down the street is also Mi Pueblo Supermarket, my favorite Latino supermarket in the area with a great bakery and meat counter.