Maddy's Guide to Playgrounds in Burlington - Wildmere Park

 

Basics:

Date of visit: May 25, 2025

Where can I find it? On Wildmere Ave, curiously

Bathrooms? nope

Parking? just along the road

When open? Daylight hours. 

Review:

I like to think of Wildmere Park as a work in progress. While technically the work was all completed in January of this year, there is a strong mismatch between the available space, and the functional use of that space. The single structure was clearly designed to make highly efficient use of a limited space. While well suited for a New York City postage stamp park, at Wildmere, it looks a little silly. 

This is it. This is the park.

Let us start with the structure itself. The architect appears to have subscribed to the same philosophy as a modern automobile company, which believes that odd-shaped polygons mashed together in strange angles is a forward thinking design. 

Admittedly, no one angle of it looks like another, making it an excellent calibration station for robotic vision systems. In that respect, this park is well future-proofed for our robotic overlords, once they gain control. 

Infinite pathways also mean infinite collisions between kids trying to get from one side to another.

Design choices aside, the structure itself is serviceable and can be a lot of fun, so long as there are not too many kids on it at the same time. Too many appears to be more than one or two at most, before children start running into each other on their way to the nexus point at the top of the slide. 

 

Like a red tie fighter, but less personality.

There are a few swings, but again there is a strong emphasis on consolidation and space saving. Presumably the smaller children can now swing while staring at a parent, instead of at the other kids trying to climb on the structure. Maybe that will improve parent child bonding. 

Two for the price of one

There are two other odd design choices for this particular park. One is the cluster of trees surrounding the flagpole. It looks like there was a paranoid fear that children might see the flagpole and perhaps wish to climb it, and the solution was to obscure it with densely planted and carefully manicured pines all around. 

What the actual what?

But the strangest design choice of all is the placement of the benches. For context, here is a google map overview of the park layout, borders in red are approximate. 

The sand lot on the right side is where the newly constructed structures now reside. But the two benches?

Tucked away in farthest corner, like they've been put into a time out.

Who are these for?

They are far enough away that it is hard to watch kids play without a telescope. They need to install one of those coin operated binoculars next to the benches for them to be of any real use. Normally I would like this as it is the ideal distance for my father to observe play time, but because it is out of earshot, he is not able to respond to my commands when the need arises. Ultimately, I predict these benches will sit, unused. 

A compact park smashed into a spacious opening; I give Wildmere 4 binoculars. 

Madelyn Hope Lewis is the senior playground tester of Lewis Developments, and a connoisseur of playtime activities. When she's not exploring Massachusetts fun time architecture, she can be found scouting out where is exactly "the line" with her parents. 

Maddy's Guide to Playgrounds in Burlington (not today) - Montgomery Park

 

Basics:

Date of visit: April 25th, 2025

Where can I find it? Behind the Dryden Hotel

Bathrooms? nope

Parking? Plenty

When open? Daylight hours. 

Review:

This past spring, I found myself traveling through the looking glass. That is to say, I sat in a car for six hours and desperately needed to get out to a place one might go to burn off some energy. Based on proximity, the optimal location was Montgomery Park in Dryden, NY. 

Through the looking glass indeed!

While parks in Massachusetts appear to prefer either functional abstractionism, or cartoonish animalism, parks in New York state have adopted an approach more akin to Lewis Carrol's Wonderland. With broken lines and non-parallel angles that would give an engineer a headache, children are encouraged to explore, and manifest adventures that thankfully do not include any Jabberwocks. 

The park is sized for individuals both small and smaller, with a section dedicated the tiniest of adventurers. 

I was too big for this section. It made me pine for the days long past when was younger, smaller.

With a standard complement of swings and slides that had sufficient drainage to not retain large puddles at the bottom after a storm, one can while away the hours with a lot of standard playground activities. 

The swings were fine, but too quiet. Not enough squeaking for my tastes.

But there's adventure to be discovered to those who are willing to put in the time to seek it out. One thing to note is that Dryden fully renovated the park in 2016 with the goal of making it a nexus of activities that are to serve as a gateway of visitors coming into Tompkins County. As such, artistic accents abound, including at least one very impressive mural to be found on the climbing wall. 

One can feel like a kaiju, clambering all over the sleepy villa. 

The highlight of the park is the rope bridge that separates the two main structures. Despite being sized for small people, the bridge is just spacious enough to bring a thrill to both a playground player, and the panicked mother watching from the ground!

Word of advice: Do not look down!

Prior to his turn becoming a heel in the world of wrestling, John Cena was a well-known supporter of playground renovations

While off the beaten path for the average Burlingtoner, playground enthusiasts would be well advised to swing by and give Montgomery park a try if they find themselves in the area. With a pavilion for picnics, and a basketball court for older kids, there is an opportunity for anyone to find the fun. My father tried to get us to go to the Dryden Hotel for lunch, but I reminded him that efforts to recapture his misspent youth would not be wasted on me. We went to McDonald's instead, like any self-respecting playgrounder should!

I give Montgomery Park 4 white rabbits:

Madelyn Hope Lewis is the senior playground tester of Lewis Developments, and a connoisseur of playtime activities. When she's not exploring Massachusetts fun time architecture, she can be found scouting out where is exactly "the line" with her parents. 

Maddy's Guide to Playgrounds in Burlington - TRW Park

 

Basics:

Date of visit: September 8th, 2024

Where can I find it? Visible, but not accessible from Burlington Mall Road.

Bathrooms? nope

Parking? Plenty

When open? Daylight hours. 

Review:

It is said that sometimes the journey can be just as important as the destination itself. There is no truer manifestation of this adage than our trip to visit TRW park. Access to the park must be made by way of Stony Brook Road. Most navigation apps do not realize this, given that it has a Burlington Mall Road address. Moreover, access from Stony Brook is the last left turn before you reach the intersection, and you do not see it until you are already there. If you miss it, you must loop around yet again. My father forbade me from repeating what he said when we missed it the second time, but it involved a deity constructing a wall to hold back the waters. Of his tears, I think? 

Once you do reach the park, a good twenty minutes later than planned, you are greeted with a place seeking to serve two different audiences. One is the classic small child wanting swings to swing on, 

Check!

and slides to slide on. 

Double check!

The other is childless twenty somethings looking to add some pizzazz to their daily walking or jogging routines. 

I suppose a third would be dog walkers. You can walk your dog here. 

While enjoyable, the design of the play structures at TRW does not break any new ground, and sadly brings back the sadly inaccurate solar system map seen before. 

A geocentric model, clearly designed by Copernicus deniers

Much more attention was paid to the FITNESS COURT(TM), a name they really want you to use describing this place. 

It doesn't have flashing lights around the letters, but you can picture it with them, can't you?

Along the wall are a series of metal fixtures with diagrams showing ways to leverage body weight exercises to build and strengthen core muscles. I was too small to use any of it properly, but that didn't stop me!

Feel the burn!

I really worked off those fruit gummies we brought for a snack!

My father observed that the park is built directly across from the Lahey Medical Center. After observing this, he got quiet for a few minutes, and then began exercising on the fixtures too. It is almost as if the hospital was emanating waves of shame that he was not living his best, most active lifestyle self!

While the exercise fixtures were interesting, the real highlight of the FITNESS COURT(TM) are the raised stones. I am not entirely sure what they are intended for, but they are great for anyone who is a passionate aficionado of the Floor is Lava game, like I happen to be. 

Don't fall in!

There is also a general-purpose field for people who want to practice baseball or lose golf balls.

Joy, I have your golf ball, if you want it back.

Do exercise caution if running around the field. As I mentioned, there are dogs being walked, and sometimes the owner doesn't always clean everything up!

You didn't think I'd actually put a picture of that on here, did you? Gross!

Overall, while I enjoyed myself, I do not see myself returning to TRW park anytime soon. That is mostly because my father, frustrated with finding his way there, declared that he is never bringing me there again.

I give TRW 4 lava floor tiles:

Madelyn Hope Lewis is the senior playground tester of Lewis Developments, and a connoisseur of playtime activities. When she's not exploring Massachusetts fun time architecture, she can be found scouting out where is exactly "the line" with her parents. 

Maddy's Guide to Playgrounds in Burlington - Regan Park

Basics:

Date of visit: September 2nd, 2024

Where can I find it? Hiding at the end of Sumpter Road.

Bathrooms? 1 standard port-a-potty

Parking? Plenty

When open? Daylight hours.

Review:

Regan Park is a playground designed around the idea of, "There is a lot of space available here, and we want to keep it that way!" It is a setup that emphasizes openness and provides an opportunity for parents and kids to inhabit their own spheres of influence and minimize potential frictions. 

These are the time out swings

 Aside from the solitary swing set, the rest of the playgrounds structures are densely consolidated in a single patch of ground padding, with lots of open space around it for children to run, for parents to talk out of earshot, or for parents to chase down children who don't want to leave just yet.

Same place as previous photo, just 180 degrees. As you can see, it is pretty easy to take in.

The playground structure itself is a clever piece, with plenty of creative challenges for children to test their balance, and parents to test their anxiety attacks. 

The blue climbing piece to the right is a regular 4-dimensional chess set

My brother could navigate the platforms to the left. I could not. Thankfully, the padding below is soft.

Sadly, the park presented yet another one of those chicken fighting pens. I have expressed my grievances to my father, who strangely resists bringing them up at town hall. It makes me wonder where his allegiances truly lie!

It is NOT a finger licking good time!

The most unique aspect of Regan Park is its spider web. Unlike the black widow mesh of Rahanis, this utilizes a more conventional orb web like that of a corn spider. As a structure, it is interesting enough to climb upon, but it also generates one of the more interesting challenges to parents with kids who do not want to leave. It is sufficiently large that you can reach through and grab a child who is running away, but not large enough to pull the child through. It is also big enough that you cannot simply reach around, meaning the parent must let go, and continue chasing around and around. The game is lost if there are two parents, so children take heed of your strategy in advance!

Look at me, dad! I'm a Argiope aurantia!

As a mainstay playground, Regan park's options are sadly limited. But, it does make for a nice change of pace, especially if one has a lot of energy to burn in a game of keep away. I give Regan Park 4 spider webs. 

Madelyn Hope Lewis is the senior playground tester of Lewis Developments, and a connoisseur of playtime activities. When she's not exploring Massachusetts fun time architecture, she can be found scouting out where is exactly "the line" with her parents.