Playing at the Washington Irving River Park in Bixby

May 20, 2024

Tara Rittler,

A couple months ago, a friend and I were going to drive down to Bixby to explore the downtown area, just for fun. For whatever reason, that didn’t materialize. However, that ended up working out perfectly because we finally got to go this past Sunday, and our trip included a stop at the new Washington Irving River Park playground! Joss and the accompanying adults all had a blast at this beautiful new playground.

About Washington Irving River Park

I had to do some digging – aka Googling – to learn more about the park. Originally, I thought it was all part of the Washington Irving Memorial Park, which we hadn’t been to before, either. That’s kind of true. However, the River Park is more of a “bridge” connecting the Washington Irving Memorial Park with Harmony Bridge.

Harmony Bridge is a beautiful pedestrian bridge/park (alongside Memorial) with musical elements adorning it. There are tables, play areas, art pieces you can attach locks to for memories, and more.

Washington Irving Memorial Park is a huge facility, with a butterfly garden, walking trail, arboretum, two memorials, an amphitheater and more. We didn’t have a chance to explore the park. Plus, we were trying to avoid getting in the way of people cleaning up after the annual Blues & BBQ Festival.

Washington Irving River Park joins these two already amazing facilities. It includes a playground, stage, porch-type swings down by the river, a sandy area to play in by the river and other cool elements. I’ve seen a couple warnings that mosquitoes can get bad, so it’s a good idea to bring bug spray.

The Playground

Sadly, because it was a hot day, and I hadn’t done all my Googling yet, we didn’t make it down to the river. So I don’t have photos of that part. But we did love the new playground! It is so bright and lovely, and there are elements suited to younger visitors, as well as climbing areas even adults can enjoy.

Smaller equipment, perfect for younger kids

This climbing area and slide were very tall!

Joss’s favorite part was probably this spinning merry-go-round:

And I was impressed with his willingness to climb even the taller structures!

There are multiple ways to get to the top of the slide hill: Pull yourself up the rope, simply run up, or use the climbing wall:

Thankfully, there were several shaded areas. And the playground is adjacent to a nice, new restroom facility.

There was a lot of dirt surrounding the playground, as you can see in this photo. So I’m not 100% sure what the future plans are. But in any case, the playground was open, and it’s definitely worth a visit.

Continuing our Bixby Adventure

After playing, we made sure to stop by downtown Bixby to visit Bixby Ice Cream Co. Sadly, Sunday is not a great day to visit downtown Bixby, as many stores and eateries were closed. But the ice cream shop was open! They serve multiple flavors of Blue Bell ice cream, and you can choose from a selection of toppings as well. I got coffee ice cream with cookie dough and butterscotch chips. Delicious!

Finally, we stopped by Charley Young Event Park. It’s located in downtown, so was just a block or so away from the ice cream shop. And easy walk. There’s a nice, small playground, amphitheater and splash pad. The splash pad wasn’t open when we were there. It’s open from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and then again from 6-11 p.m. But it looked very nice!