The park Herriman
The closest thing a city built after 2000 has to a town square
J. Lynn Crane Park, a splash pad in July and ice in December.
Beside Herriman town hall there are two adjoining civic spaces with almost the same name and two different addresses, and between them they carry the city's only genuine town square. The park holds the stage, the playground and the grass. The plaza holds the fire pits, a splash pad from Memorial Day, and an outdoor ice ribbon running timed sessions from the first of December to the end of February. Here are the seasons, the hours, the prices and which address is which.
Southern Utah is my home turf. Herriman 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 Salt Lake County partner agent.
Start here
One name, two addresses and two completely different seasons.
J. Lynn Crane Park sits at 12998 South Fort Herriman Parkway, beside the town hall, and carries a stage with music capability, a playground, a pavilion, benches and tables, restrooms, a car park and a large open grass area. J. Lynn Crane Plaza sits at 13082 South Fort Herriman Parkway, immediately next door, and the city lists it as a separate park with its own address, its own parking and its own restrooms.
That distinction is not pedantry, it is the thing that trips people up. The splash pad is on the plaza. The ice ribbon is on the plaza. The playground, the stage and the pavilion are on the park. Mapping apps and listing sites merge the two constantly, so a search for the splash pad will happily route you to the address next door. They are close enough that the error costs a short walk rather than a drive, but it also means the wrong telephone enquiry gets you the wrong answer.
Taken together, the two are the closest thing this city has to a town square, and they are unusual for a Utah suburb in one specific respect: they are programmed in both directions of the year. From Memorial Day the plaza runs a splash pad. From the first of December the same ground becomes an outdoor ice ribbon on timed sessions. Very few suburbs of this size attempt a winter amenity at all.
The plaza by the numbers
1 December
when the ice ribbon opened last season
10 dollars
an adult session with skate hire
9am to 8pm
the published splash pad window
2 addresses
for what everybody calls one place
December to February
An outdoor ice ribbon, sold in one hour sessions.
An ice ribbon is a looping skating track rather than a rectangular rink, and skating one is a genuinely different experience: you travel rather than circle. Herriman runs one on the plaza beside its own town hall, and the published 2025-26 season is set out below as an illustration of the shape of a Herriman winter rather than as a schedule to book from, because the city publishes a new one each autumn.
| When | The published 2025-26 pattern | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| The season | 1 December 2025 to 28 February 2026 | Weather permitting, which for an outdoor sheet at this elevation is a real qualification rather than boilerplate |
| Weekdays | Three one hour sessions at 4.30pm, 6.00pm and 7.30pm | Evening only, which means a weekday visit is an after school or after work outing rather than a daytime one |
| Saturdays | Seven sessions running from 10.30am to 8.30pm | The only day with morning ice, and the day that fills first |
| Sundays | Four sessions, in December and January only | Closed on Sundays through February, which is the single most missable line in the whole schedule |
| Holidays | Extended hours in late December and early January | Closed on 25 December and on 1 January |
| Extras | Theme nights, glow skating, and buy one get one Sundays in January | The cheapest way into the season, and they are announced rather than fixed |
The 2025-26 season as published by Herriman City and checked on 7 August 2026. Sessions and closures move with weather and maintenance, so confirm the current season with the city's events team on 801-446-8658 or at [email protected] before making plans around any of it.
| Who | With skate hire | Bringing your own |
|---|---|---|
| Adults, 14 and over | 10 dollars | 6 dollars |
| Children, 3 to 14 | 8 dollars | 4 dollars |
| Toddlers, under 3 | Free | Free |
| Ice walkers and strollers | 5 to 7 dollars to hire | Not applicable |
| Helmets | Free | Free |
Published 2025-26 prices, checked 7 August 2026. Reservations are non-refundable, and rescheduling has to be done by telephone with the events department during business hours rather than online. Confirm the current season's pricing before booking.
The practicalities
It is a booking, not a turn up and skate.
The most common misunderstanding about the ice ribbon is that it works like a park. It does not. Sessions are reserved in advance, they are non-refundable, and if you need to move one you telephone the events department during business hours rather than clicking anything at ten at night. That is a municipal arrangement rather than a commercial one and it is entirely reasonable; it is also not what most people assume about an outdoor rink beside a town hall.
The scheduling consequences are worth spelling out. Weekday ice is evening only, three sessions of an hour each. Saturday is the only day with morning ice and it carries seven sessions, which means it is also the day that goes first. Sunday sessions exist in December and January and do not exist in February, and the plaza is closed on 25 December and 1 January with extended hours either side of both. Anybody planning around the holidays should read that line twice.
The pricing is worth understanding as a family arithmetic rather than a headline. Skate hire is bundled into the higher price rather than charged separately, so a household that owns skates pays materially less: 6 dollars an adult and 4 a child rather than 10 and 8. Under threes are free, helmets are free, and ice walkers hire at 5 to 7 dollars for anybody who needs one. Theme nights, glow skating and the buy one get one Sundays in January are the cheapest way into the season and they are announced rather than fixed, so they reward following the city rather than checking once in November.
The other reason to book rather than to hope is that this is outdoor ice at around five thousand feet. Sessions can be cancelled for weather and for maintenance, and a city that sells timed slots also has to cancel them, which is a better arrangement than turning up to a closed gate. The city posts changes rather than leaving them to the plaza. The county page on the valley in winter covers what the season does to this whole floor.
Closed on Sundays through February, and that catches people every single season. Sunday sessions ran in December and January in the published 2025-26 schedule and stopped for February, while weekday and Saturday sessions continued to the end of the month. It is the sort of detail that never makes it into a listing site and is the difference between a good Sunday afternoon and a drive across the valley to a locked plaza. Confirm the current season directly with the city's events team on 801-446-8658.
Memorial Day to Labor Day
The same ground, with the water on instead.
The summer half of this plaza is the exact opposite proposition to the winter half: free, unstaffed, unbooked and open every day of the season. That contrast is most of what makes the place work, because a civic square that only functions for three months of the year is not a civic square.
| The plaza, in summer | The park next door | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 13082 South Fort Herriman Parkway | 12998 South Fort Herriman Parkway |
| The main thing | A splash pad, published as running Memorial Day to Labor Day, 9am to 8pm | A stage with music capability, a playground and a large open grass area |
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Booking | None. It is unstaffed and unbooked | The pavilion is reservable through the city |
| Sitting down | Pergolas, fire pits and picnic tables | Benches, tables and the pavilion |
| What it is for | An hour of cooling off, or an evening around a fire pit | A gathering, a concert, a birthday or a long afternoon |
Addresses and amenities as published by the City of Herriman and checked on 7 August 2026. The splash pad is free and unstaffed, which means the published operating window is the whole of the arrangement, and the city can take the water off for maintenance without notice. If it is the entire reason for the trip, look at the city's page the morning of.
The fire pits are the underrated part and they are the reason the plaza works after dark in a season when the water is off. At around five thousand feet on the edge of the valley, a July evening cools fast once the sun drops behind the Oquirrhs, and a civic square with fire pits and pergolas is a considerably more useful piece of public space at nine at night than a lawn is.
The pairing with the park next door is what turns either one from twenty minutes into an evening. The playground, the stage and the grass are on the park side, the water and the fire are on the plaza side, and the walk between them is short enough that most visitors never realise they crossed a boundary. Anybody booking a pavilion for a group should be clear which of the two they actually want, because the city treats them separately.
The point of it
Why a young city builds a square before it builds a centre.
A city that counted 1,523 people at the turn of the century and something close to sixty thousand now has a specific problem that older places do not: it has no inherited centre. There is no nineteenth century main street with a bank on the corner, no railway station square, no courthouse lawn that everybody has always used. What there is instead is a great deal of new housing, a highway on one side, a mountain range on the other, and a genuine question about where people are supposed to run into each other.
Building a plaza beside the town hall and then programming it in both seasons is a direct answer to that question, and it is a more deliberate act than it looks. The stage, the fire pits, the splash pad, the ice, the food trucks that use the ground and the events calendar attached to it are all attempts to manufacture what an old town gets for free. Whether that works is a matter of habit rather than design, and habit takes a decade.
The honest assessment is that it is working better than most attempts of this kind, and the ice ribbon is the evidence. A splash pad is a standard suburban amenity that any city can install. An outdoor skating track running timed sessions six or seven days a week for three months of winter is an ongoing operational commitment with staff, equipment, weather risk and a booking system behind it, and a city only carries that if people turn up.
For anybody weighing an address here, the practical read is that proximity to this plaza is worth more in this city than proximity to a park would be in an older one, precisely because there is no alternative centre. That is a genuine feature of a young city and it is the kind of thing that does not show up in any listing. The movers page takes the rest of that argument.
An old town inherits a square. A new one has to build one and then persuade people to use it.
How to use it well
Four habits for a place with two seasons.
Book the ice early and book the Saturday earliest. Seven sessions across a Saturday sounds like a lot until you consider that it is the only day with morning ice in a city of this size, and that the extended holiday sessions in late December compete for the same slots. Weekday evenings are the ones with availability, and 4.30 is quieter than 6.00.
Own the skates if you are going more than three times. Hire is bundled into the higher ticket, so the difference between bringing your own and hiring is 4 dollars an adult and 4 a child per session, which pays for a pair of second hand skates inside a season for anybody making a habit of it. Helmets are free either way and ice walkers hire for 5 to 7 dollars.
And use the two addresses deliberately rather than accidentally. If the point of the trip is water and fire pits, the plaza is what you want. If it is a playground, a stage or a group with a pavilion, the park next door is. Getting that right on the first attempt is the difference between a smooth evening and ten minutes of walking back to the car. The reservoir page covers the other timed amenity in this city, and its own rulebook.
Keep reading
More of Herriman on The Local.
Things to do
The top 8, ranked
A sand beach on an irrigation pond, a shut canyon road, and an ice ribbon in December.
Read the guideThe reservoir
Blackridge Reservoir
A seven acre secondary water pond with a beach, a 15 dollar weekend and a permit street.
Read the guideThe canyon
Butterfield Canyon
A seasonal road to a 9,000 foot overlook, washed out 5.5 miles up on 22 July 2026.
Read the guideThe corridor
The Mountain View Corridor
Seven miles of half built freeway through one city, and the phase that finishes it.
Read the guideMoving here
Living in a city that tripled
What a street built in 2006 has that a street built in 2022 does not, and when.
Read the guideThe companion
Herriman, the whole picture
The reservoir, the canyon road, the corridor, the park and the growth, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The park, answered.
J. Lynn Crane Park is at 12998 South Fort Herriman Parkway, beside the town hall, and it carries a stage with music capability, a playground, a pavilion, benches and tables, restrooms, a car park and a large open grass area. J. Lynn Crane Plaza is a separate address at 13082 South Fort Herriman Parkway, immediately next door, and that is where the splash pad and the ice ribbon are. The city lists them as two parks; most listing sites and mapping apps merge them.
The published 2025-26 season ran from 1 December 2025 to 28 February 2026, weather permitting, on timed one hour sessions. Weekdays carried three evening sessions at 4.30, 6.00 and 7.30. Saturdays carried seven sessions from 10.30 in the morning to 8.30 at night. Sunday sessions ran in December and January only and stopped for February, and the plaza was closed on 25 December and 1 January with extended hours either side of both.
In the published 2025-26 season, adults aged 14 and over paid 10 dollars with skate hire included or 6 dollars bringing their own, and children aged 3 to 14 paid 8 dollars and 4 dollars on the same basis. Toddlers under 3 were free and helmets were free for everybody. Ice walkers and strollers hired at 5 to 7 dollars. Reservations were non-refundable and rescheduling had to be done by telephone with the events department during business hours.
Yes. Sessions are reserved in advance rather than sold at a gate, they run for an hour, and they are non-refundable. If you need to move one, you telephone the city's events department during business hours rather than doing it online. Saturday sessions and the extended holiday slots in late December go first, and weekday evenings carry the most availability. The events team is on 801-446-8658 or [email protected].
The splash pad at J. Lynn Crane Plaza is published as running from Memorial Day to Labor Day, from 9am to 8pm. It is free and unstaffed, with no booking and no session, so the published operating window is the whole of the arrangement. Because it is unstaffed, the city can take the water off for maintenance without notice, so if the splash pad is the entire reason for the trip it is worth checking the city's page the morning of.
Yes, and it is on the park side at 12998 South Fort Herriman Parkway rather than on the plaza. The park also carries a stage with music capability, a pavilion that is reservable through the city, benches and tables, restrooms, a car park and a large open grass area. The plaza next door carries the water, the fire pits, the pergolas and the winter ice. The two sit alongside each other, so the distinction costs a short walk rather than a drive.
The pavilion is on the park side and is reservable through the City of Herriman on 801-446-5323. The important thing is to be clear which of the two facilities you actually want when you make the booking, because the city treats J. Lynn Crane Park and J. Lynn Crane Plaza as separate parks with separate addresses, and a group arriving at the wrong one is a genuinely common outcome given how similar the names are.
It is a ribbon rather than a rink, which is a looping outdoor skating track instead of a rectangular sheet. The practical difference is that you travel along it rather than circling a rectangle, which changes the experience considerably, particularly for anybody learning. It is outdoor ice at around five thousand feet, so the season is genuinely weather dependent and the city can cancel sessions, which is one of the reasons it sells timed slots rather than open skating.
The town hall is immediately alongside, which is the whole point of the siting, and the city's events calendar uses the plaza and the park together through the year. Beyond that, Herriman's other two timed amenities are a few minutes away: Blackridge Reservoir up the bench to the west, which has its own parking charge and permit zone, and the county trail network at the western edge of the city, which is free and open and never full.
A square a city built because it did not inherit one.
A place that counted 1,523 people in 2000 had to manufacture a centre, and the plaza beside the town hall is the attempt, programmed in both directions of the year. How close a property sits to it matters more here than it would in an older city, because there is no second option. Tell me what you are weighing and a Salt Lake County partner agent who works this corner takes the ground work, while I stay on 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.