Another playground review, this time a little closer to home than some of the more recent reviews. Longfellow Park is in, erm, the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis, and covers one square city block. It has tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, a basketball court, rec center, pool, a few grills and, of course, a playground.
The playground is a Landscape Structures installation, probably 15 years old or so, built above a mulch surface. It provides the typical 2 to 5 year old set and a 5-12 year old structure, though I would argue that this playground is probably best for that older group by a small margin.
The pieces designed for the toddlers include a small house structure with a few steps into the house, a rubber climbing piece on another side, and a small slide to come down. Down low along the ground are a few play panels and a rubber “hammock”. Heads up if you have a reader: check the graffiti inside the house if you are concerned about that kind of stuff.
The toddler area also has a T-post swing set with two baby bucket seats, a freestanding spinner, and a sandbox nearby.
As the toddler area is on the west side of the playground near trees, it is probably shadier on average than the rest of the playground, with the best shade coming in the afternoon.
Separated from the toddler area by some rubber pathing, the 5 to 12 portion consists of basically two structures: a traditional deck structure and a separate rope and rubber sheet tower. The tower offers a good bit of “free climbing” opportunities, with a happy path through holes in the rubber platforms in the center up to the top. Kids will find any number of ways to climb around this, which is great, but I do think probably 4 or 5 years is probably the age where legs and arms start to be long enough to really enjoy this. Which is what is advertised for recommended age group, so no complaints. The decked structure is more open to all ages, with regular stairs, slides, and ladders.
This playground also has a few good freestanding items that get a lot of use, like the sole non-baby swing in the park. The swing is the “turtle shell” or “nest” style, that can fit a few kids. It’s a solid piece of hard plastic. There is also a spinning rope sphere with two levels to it. This takes a good effort to spin, and it has some sort of speed governor inside– it won’t go very fast at all, no matter how hard you are pushing. It’s fun to throw an infant or toddler down at the bottom, and basically the higher up you see a kid on this globe the older they probably are.
Longfellow is a fairly average playground for Minneapolis, and the wider park hits a lot of boxes. The number of courts/fields is sufficient, the rec center has bathrooms, an indoor gym (checkout winter playtimes), and a warming house for the winter hockey rinks. There is a 16 inch deep square pool immediately next to the playground that gets good afternoon shade, as well.
In the neighborhood you’ve got options, too. On the north side, across the street, is Shepherds Table. This year they operated as a small local sandwich shop with some fancy cheeses, and they offer a small collection of other things: coffee, pastries, grocery items, ice cream and other cold treats. It is very locally owned, and it’s definitely worth checking out particularly as they build out into their next door space for a relaxed wine/beer bar.
A few blocks east is Turtle Bread, a neighborhood favorite for pastries, breakfast, lunch, and cookies. Kitchen open until 2:30, closes at 4.
And south by a few blocks is Fireroast Coffee, with coffee, pastries, some food, beer and wine.
Overall, Longfellow Park really feels like it has something for everyone and is good pretty much any day of the year. Honestly, before I started writing this I’ve always kind of been slightly “meh” about Longfellow Park, but it really is a keeper, and I’ll miss how it feels like home. It truly deserves its name.
