The park Naples
A city of 2,280 with a park sized for one twice as large
Naples City Park, and the year the water ran out.
Roughly 34 acres on one block of 1900 South, with a music park, three softball diamonds, a walking loop and a counter that lends you a frisbee. Two pavilions booked through two different agencies at two different rates. A splash pad at two dollars a head that did not open once in 2026. And underneath every bit of it, federal mineral lease money.
Southern Utah is my home turf. Naples is not, so these pages are researched rather than lived: checked against city, county and venue sources, and dated so you can see how fresh they are. For the on-the-ground work here I lean on a Uintah County partner agent.
Start here
Thirty four acres for two thousand two hundred and eighty people.
There is a standard for this. The National Recreation and Park Association publishes guidance of 15 to 17 acres of park land per thousand residents, which Naples City quotes in its own 2021 general plan. Run the arithmetic for a city of 2,280 and you land somewhere near 35 acres as a target for the whole municipality. Naples City Park is roughly 34 of them on its own, before you count the pocket parks scattered through the neighbourhoods or the eighteen hole golf course at the top corner of the city.
So the honest description of this park is not that it is nice for a small town. It is that a small town has, by national measure, essentially met its entire park obligation in a single field, and then kept going. Understanding why is the most useful thing on this page, and the answer is not the property tax.
The park sits on 1900 South with Naples School on one side and the splash pad on the other, which puts the elementary school, the town's water play and the town's field sports on one block. That is not an accident of history; it is the only piece of deliberate civic planning in Naples that is visible from the street, and it is the reason people who live here say the park when they mean the middle of town.
Naples City Park, the working numbers
~34 acres
in one park, on one block of 1900 South
15 to 17
acres per thousand people, the national yardstick
2
pavilions, booked through two different agencies
250
the capacity of the West Pavilion, per the district
The two desks
One park, two landlords and two phone numbers.
This is the single most useful practical fact about Naples City Park and almost nobody prints it in one place. The two pavilions are not booked by the same body, they do not carry the same rate card, and ringing the wrong one wastes an afternoon.
| East Pavilion | West Pavilion | |
|---|---|---|
| Booked through | Naples City, on 435-789-9090 | Uintah Special Service District 1, on 435-781-0982 |
| Full day | 30 dollars | 30 dollars for a group of 75 or fewer, 09:00 until dark |
| Half day | 20 dollars, either 09:00 to 14:00 or 15:00 until dark | Not published; the district rate depends on group size |
| Larger groups | Ring the city | Rate depends on size; the district lists a 250 person capacity |
| Notice required | Ring the city; any day of the week can be booked | Seven days in advance, and for the current year only |
| Closed season | Ring the city | Reservations closed entirely from 1 October to 1 April |
| Listed amenities | Ring the city | Electricity, picnic tables, a fire pit and water |
Figures above are what the two agencies published as of 7 August 2026 and neither is a quotation for your event. Confirm the rate, the capacity and the availability on the phone, because the district is explicit that its pavilion rate depends on group size and that it will only take bookings inside the current calendar year.
No residential fireworks at any Uintah County or city park, at any time. This is a standing recreation district rule and it stands separately from whatever the state calendar permits and from whatever the city has ordered for a given season. It applies to Naples City Park all year. In 2026 Naples City layered its own order on top of it, banning aerial fireworks inside the entire city limits, so on the 24th of July the only aerial display anywhere in Naples was the one the city ran itself with fire trucks on the grass.
The splash pad
Two dollars a head, in a year when there is water for it.
The Naples Family Splash Park sits at 1701 East 1900 South, on 435-789-1010, immediately beside the park, and it is run by the same recreation district. In an ordinary season it is one of the cheapest afternoons in the county. Sessions run Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 17:00 at two dollars a participant. Spectators pay nothing, and neither do children under one, which matters if only one member of a group is going in.
Beyond the public sessions there are two other ways to use it. Parties book the evening slot from 17:30 to 19:30, at 50 dollars an hour for 25 participants or fewer and 75 dollars an hour for 26 to 100, up to the capacity of the pad. A family reunion that would rather come in during normal session hours can do so at 1.50 a head instead of two, which requires advance notice and a minimum of 25 people.
None of that happened in 2026. The recreation district's own parks page carried a single line through the season, and it was still there when this page was written on 7 August 2026: the splash park was closed for the 2026 season, because of water shortage. There was no partial opening, no reduced hours and no reopening date attached.
| Use | When | Published cost | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public session | Monday to Saturday, 11:00 to 17:00 | 2 dollars a participant | Spectators and children under one are free |
| Party booking | Monday to Saturday, 17:30 to 19:30 | 50 dollars an hour, 25 or fewer | After the public sessions close |
| Larger party | Monday to Saturday, 17:30 to 19:30 | 75 dollars an hour, 26 to 100 | Up to the capacity of the pad |
| Family reunion | During normal session hours | 1.50 a head | Advance notice and a minimum of 25 people |
| The 2026 season | None of it | Not applicable | Closed for the whole season for water shortage |
Every figure in the first four rows is the district's published card for an ordinary season and none of it applied in 2026. Ring 435-789-1010 in the spring before you plan anything around it. A closure like this is a season by season decision made on the water supply, so it is neither permanent nor a promise about next year.
A splash pad uses very little water next to a lawn. Closing one is a decision about what the town is willing to look like.
Who pays for it
The parks here are funded by oil and gas royalties.
This is the answer to the acreage question at the top of the page, and the district states it plainly on its own site rather than leaving anybody to work it out.
Naples City does not own Naples City Park. Uintah Special Service District 1 does, along with the splash pad, the recreation centre, the indoor pool and Dinaland Golf Course. It is a special service district covering Vernal and the surrounding communities, guided by a seven member board of directors, and it says openly that it is funded through mineral lease funds.
Mineral lease money is the state and local share of royalties paid on energy production from federal land. In a county where oil and gas extraction accounts for 26 percent of employed residents, that stream is substantial, and it is why a valley of this size runs a 70,000 square foot recreation centre with two gymnasiums, an indoor track and a climbing wall, an eighteen hole golf course, and a park inventory that would embarrass places ten times its population.
The consequence, and it is a real one for anybody weighing a move, is that the recreation budget out here rides the same cycle as everything else. Royalties fall when production falls. Nothing published suggests the district is in difficulty, and the point is not alarm; the point is that when somebody tells you the recreation here is remarkable for the size of the place, this is the reason, and the reason is not the local property tax rate.
What is drawn
Five additions with no date attached to any of them.
The recreation district lists five things as coming soon at Naples City Park: pickleball courts, a softball concession stand with a score tower, batting cages, disc golf and four new single use restrooms. As of 7 August 2026 none of them carried a published date. That is normal for a district doing capital work across a whole county, and it is also the reason to ring rather than to plan around a drawing.
The city's own 2021 general plan points the same way from the other side. It asks for more prescribed play space for soccer, baseball and softball, for park improvements to be universally accessible as far as possible, for play structures to meet or exceed the current safety standards, and for a city wide parks and recreation plan that feeds priority projects into the capital budget. It also notes that Naples should expect to keep encouraging the recreation district to look for park locations on the west side of the city, which is the part with the least of it.
The other half of the plan is paths rather than pitches. Naples has very few footways: the general plan says plainly that many local roads have no sidewalk and pedestrians use the shoulder, and that the city is working with developers to change that as new streets go in. The county trails plan of 2018 identified a route from Naples Park toward the recreation centre along 200 East to 500 South, footways along US-40 to 1500 South and along 1000 South and 2000 South, and a bike lane on 2500 South. That last one is now attached to real money: on 9 July 2026 the council resolved to issue up to 1,500,000 dollars of street improvement revenue bonds, over not more than ten years, for improvements on 2500 South, with a public hearing set for 13 August 2026.
There is one more path idea in the plan, and it follows the water. In the survey behind the 2021 general plan, residents backed nature trails along the existing creeks at roughly 1200 South and 1700 South, and the plan illustrates a potential trail corridor running through the existing floodplain around 1250 South. Nothing has been funded. It is worth knowing anyway, because that corridor is the low ground on the eastern side of the city, it is the same ground the flood mapping is being redrawn over, and a trail is one of the few things you can honestly build on a floodplain.
Keep reading
More of Naples on The Local.
Things to do
The top 5, ranked
Five honest entries, a golf course nobody calls Naples, and why the list is short.
Read the guideThe 24th of July
Summerfest
One free day at the park on the 24th of July, in the year aerial fireworks went.
Read the guideThe water
Ashley Creek
Two miles of creek across the east side, the springs it feeds, the frogs it named.
Read the guideWhat it does
The working valley
Twenty six percent in oil and gas, and a main street the city wants to change.
Read the guideMoving here
Naples or Vernal
One postcode, one school district, two tax rates and two water systems.
Read the guideThe companion
Naples, the whole picture
The park, the party, the creek, the working ground and the address question, together.
Read the pageQuick answers
The park, answered.
Roughly 34 acres, per the Naples City 2021 general plan. That is an unusual amount of park for a city of 2,280 people: the National Recreation and Park Association guidance the plan itself cites is 15 to 17 acres per thousand residents, which would put a whole municipality of this size somewhere near 35 acres. Naples reaches almost all of that in one field, before counting the pocket parks in the neighbourhoods or the eighteen hole golf course at the top corner of the city.
By ringing the correct landlord, which is the part people get wrong. Two agencies book this one park: Naples City on 435-789-9090 handles the East Pavilion, and Uintah Special Service District 1 on 435-781-0982 handles the West. The district asks for a week's notice, will only take a booking inside the current calendar year, and closes reservations altogether over the winter. Rates sit in the comparison table on this page and both agencies quote larger groups individually, so confirm on the phone rather than from any published figure.
From 1 October to 1 April. The recreation district closes pavilion reservations entirely over that period and it only accepts bookings inside the current calendar year, so you cannot reserve next summer in the autumn. It also states that not all restrooms in county and city parks are functional during the winter months. The park itself stays open and unfenced all year; it is the reservation system and the plumbing that go away.
In an ordinary season, two dollars a participant for a public session running Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 17:00, with spectators and children under one free. Party bookings run 17:30 to 19:30 at 50 dollars an hour for 25 participants or fewer and 75 dollars an hour for 26 to 100. A family reunion coming in during normal session hours pays 1.50 a head, with advance notice and a minimum of 25 people. The number to ring is 435-789-1010.
No. The Uintah recreation district's parks page carried a notice through the season, still up when this page was written on 7 August 2026, that the splash park was closed for the whole 2026 season because of water shortage. There was no partial opening and no reopening date. It came in the same summer that the Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District adopted conservation rates and that Naples City banned aerial fireworks over fire danger and drought.
Uintah Special Service District 1, the county recreation district, rather than Naples City. The district also runs the splash pad, the Uintah Community Recreation Center at 610 South Vernal Avenue, the indoor pool, Dinaland Golf Course and roughly a dozen parks across the county. It is guided by a seven member board of directors. The one thing Naples City books itself at this park is the East Pavilion, which is why there are two phone numbers.
Through mineral lease funds, which the district states on its own site. Mineral lease money is the state and local share of royalties paid on energy production from federal land, and in a county where oil and gas extraction accounts for 26 percent of employed residents it is a substantial stream. It is the reason this valley supports a 70,000 square foot recreation centre with two gymnasiums, an indoor track and a climbing wall, an eighteen hole golf course and a park inventory well beyond its population.
Five items sit on the district's coming soon line: courts for pickleball, a concession stand with a score tower serving the softball diamonds, batting cages, a disc golf layout and four single use restrooms. None of them carried a published date when this page was written. In parallel the city's 2021 plan wants more prescribed play space for soccer, baseball and softball, wants improvements to be universally accessible as far as possible, and wants a city wide parks plan feeding priorities into the capital budget. Ask the district what is funded, not what is drawn.
One real one: the trail that circles the perimeter of Naples City Park. Beyond that the city's own general plan says many local roads have no sidewalk at all and pedestrians use the shoulder. The 2018 county trails plan identified a route from Naples Park toward the recreation centre along 200 East to 500 South, footways along US-40 to 1500 South and along 1000 South and 2000 South, and a bike lane on 2500 South. Residents also backed nature trails along the creeks at about 1200 South and 1700 South.
Buying near the park? Ask what the block is going to become.
Five things are drawn for this park and none of them is dated, a street bond for 2500 South was heading to a hearing in August 2026, and the flood mapping over the low ground east of here is being redrawn. All of that is answerable in advance from public documents. Tell me the address you are weighing and I will put you with a Uintah County partner agent who can pull the file, and stay on for the homework and the financing side.
Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.