The park Riverton
The 31 acres this city is built around, arena included
Riverton City Park, and the dome it put back
Riverton City Park is the city's 31 acre flagship at 1452 West 12600 South, open every day from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night. It holds three playgrounds, eight pickleball courts, a skate park, a splash pad and a walking path, plus one thing no other park on this valley floor lists: a working rodeo arena at the south end. At the entrance stands the Old Dome Meeting Hall, built in 2015 to mirror a domed church that stood a few blocks away on Redwood Road at 12800 South, begun in 1899 and gone in 1940. Here is what is in it, what each part costs, and the one rule that catches people out.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
Riverton City Park is the city's 31 acre flagship park, at 1452 West 12600 South, open every day from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night. It packs three playgrounds, four basketball hoops, eight pickleball courts, two tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, a skate park, a splash pad, a walking path, two reservable pavilions and three mini shelters into one site, and, unusually, a working rodeo arena at the south end. The Old Dome Meeting Hall at the entrance is a public hall the city built in 2015 to mirror a domed church that stood a few blocks away on Redwood Road at 12800 South, begun in 1899 and gone in 1940, and its silhouette is the city's logo. Two pavilions and the hall are reservable, the fees are published to the dollar, and one rule trips people up, so the detail below is worth a read before you plan anything.
What is here
Thirty one acres, and an unusually long list
Riverton City Park sits at 1452 West 12600 South, runs to 31 acres, and reopened in 2015 after a large renovation that also produced the domed hall at its entrance. It is open every day from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night, a longer day than most municipal parks on this valley floor keep.
The list of what is in it is long and unusually court heavy: three playgrounds, four basketball hoops, eight pickleball courts, two tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, a skate park, a splash pad, a Veterans memorial, three restrooms, three workout stations, dedicated parking and a walking path around the central grass. Two reservable pavilions sit inside that, a large one for about 400 people and a small one for about 72, along with three mini shelters, and the Old Dome Meeting Hall at the gate is a third space you can reserve. The splash pad runs on the usual summer window, Memorial Day to Labor Day, and is drained and shut the rest of the year.
The single detail worth carrying away before your first visit is a rule rather than a feature: bounce houses and inflatables are not permitted at any Riverton city park, this one included, whatever you have reserved. It catches people out constantly, because a large pavilion is the obvious venue for a big children's party. Plan without one, and confirm the current park rules with the city before you rent anything in.
The arena
A rodeo ring in the middle of a municipal park
Every valley suburb of this size has a flagship park. Riverton is the only one I know of whose flagship park lists a rodeo arena among its amenities, in the same breath as the splash pad and the pickleball courts.
The Riverton Rodeo Arena carries its own address at 12800 South 1300 West, at the south end of the same ground as the park. It is a real arena, not a heritage feature: it holds the Town Days Rodeo every June, three nights of competition sanctioned through the Rocky Mountain Professional Rodeo Association, and it draws thousands of people to a city of about forty five thousand. In the days around the rodeo the arena also hosts an arena sorting competition, part of the same Town Days run.
What that does to the character of the park is out of proportion to the number of days it is used. A city that keeps a rodeo arena in its central park has made a statement about what it thinks it is, and it has kept making that statement through fifty years of suburban growth that would have justified paving the thing over for parking several times.
For a visitor outside late June there is nothing to do at the arena, and that is fine. Walk to it, look at it, and understand that the town this suburb grew out of is still in the middle of it. For the two weeks when it is in use, everything you need is on the Town Days page, including why you cannot buy a ticket at the gate.
The hall at the gate
A building from 1899 that the city rebuilt in 2015
The Old Dome Meeting Hall at the park entrance opened in 2015, and it is not a restoration. It is a deliberate reconstruction, built to mirror the domed church that stood in this town from the turn of the twentieth century until 1940. The original was designed by Richard K. A. Kletting, whose other work includes the Utah State Capitol, and construction began in 1899. The city's own account records that the community took nearly ten years to finish it, which for a small farm settlement on canal watered ground is an extraordinary undertaking.
It came down in 1940. What survived in the town's memory was the shape rather than the building, and that shape is now the city's logo, so every Riverton vehicle, letterhead and street sign carries the silhouette of a building the town lost in 1940. Rebuilding it as a public hall in 2015 closed a loop that had been open since before the Second World War.
What it is now is a civic room rather than a church or a museum. The city describes it as a public home for historic and cultural displays, a meeting place for civic events and a gathering place for special occasions, and it does all three. The displays are worth the walk in on their own, and they are open only about fifteen hours a week.
That access pattern is the practical detail. Public viewing runs Monday to Wednesday afternoons. Thursday, Friday and Saturday the building is available to reserve, which means it is somebody's event rather than a place to wander into. Arriving on a Saturday to look at the displays does not work, and it is the single most common wasted trip in this park.
The city put its logo on a building that had not existed since 1940, and then in 2015 it built the building.
Reserving the hall is not an online transaction, and the deposit is substantial. Because of what the building is, the city requires that reservations for the Old Dome Meeting Hall are made in person rather than through a form, more than 30 days ahead, and an $800 deposit is due at the time of booking. It is fully refundable provided there is no damage to the facility or the equipment and the building is properly cleaned afterward. Availability is Thursday to Saturday only. If a wedding or a reception is the reason you are reading this, plan for a visit to the parks office rather than a web page, and start with Riverton Parks and Recreation on 801-208-3101 or [email protected].
What it costs
What each pavilion costs, and what the city will not let you bring
This park is the default venue for large gatherings across the southwest valley, and the charges are published to the dollar. They are worth reading before you decide which pavilion you want, because the gap between the two main ones is enormous in both directions.
| The large pavilion | The small pavilion | |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 50 picnic tables, about 400 people | 9 picnic tables, about 72 people |
| Extras | The main event space in the park | Two charcoal grills |
| Resident half day | $75 | $10 |
| Resident full day | $125 | $20 |
| Non resident half day | $125 | $60 |
| Non resident full day | $200 | $90 |
| Business or corporate use | A higher non refundable fee plus a refundable security deposit; confirm the amount with the city | Not the pavilion for a corporate booking |
Fees are set by the City of Riverton and are revised from time to time, so confirm the current amounts before you rely on a figure. A half day is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.; a full day is 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The large pavilion is reserved in person; the small one can be reserved online. Both run through Riverton Parks and Recreation on 801-208-3101 or [email protected].
The two numbers that decide most bookings are the resident small pavilion at $10 for a half day and the large pavilion at $125 for a resident full day. A city that charges a household $10 to seat seventy people has made a clear decision about who its parks are for, and it is a decision worth knowing about in both directions.
The non resident premium is the other one to notice. Six times the resident rate on the small pavilion and roughly one and two thirds on the large one is a real gap, and it is normal for municipal facilities in this valley. If you live in a neighboring city and the venue is negotiable, price the equivalent at home before booking here.
And then there is the rule that catches people. Bounce houses and inflatables are not permitted at any Riverton city park. Not at the large pavilion, not with a reservation, not anywhere in the system. A large shelter for a resident day rate is the obvious venue for a big children's party, which is exactly why the rule exists and exactly why it ruins somebody's plan on summer weekends. The same rule applies at Western Springs Park and everywhere else in the city, so confirm the current rules with the city before you plan around one.
The two seasons
A July evening here and a February morning are different parks
A park that opens at 6:30 in the morning and shuts at 10 at night is used at both ends of that window in July and at almost neither in January. If you are weighing an address anywhere near this ground, both versions are worth standing in.
| A July evening | A February morning | |
|---|---|---|
| The splash pad | Running, and it is the loudest thing on the site | Shut, drained and fenced off until Memorial Day |
| The courts | Eight pickleball courts and two tennis courts in continuous use | Open, empty and usable by anybody willing to be cold |
| The arena | In use for three nights in late June and dormant the rest of the summer | A large empty ring of frozen dirt |
| The pavilions | Reserved, and the weekends around the fourth of July are effectively gone | Available, and nobody wants them |
| The hall at the gate | Reserved most Thursdays to Saturdays through the wedding season | Open for viewing Monday to Wednesday afternoons, and quiet |
| The parking lots | Full from about six on any warm evening | The nearest space to whatever you came for |
This is a park with a summer that is genuinely busy and a winter that is genuinely empty, which is normal for this valley floor and is worth seeing rather than reading. The one winter draw in this city is a built sledding hill, and it is on the other side of the city rather than here.
The reason to care about the difference is that the park's busiest weeks are also the weeks when the whole site is given over to something else. From the arena sorting competition in late June through to the fireworks on the fourth of July, this ground is a festival venue rather than a park, with a carnival on it and a full day program on the fourth. For a couple of weeks, a walk round the central path is not the experience on offer.
That is worth planning around in both directions. If the reason for a visit is Town Days, the park is the destination and the arena is the anchor. If the reason for a visit is a quiet hour on the walking path with the courts free, late April or the second half of September are better than any week in between. The festival page has the current program in order.
How to use it well
The habits that separate a resident from a first visit
Reserve before you fix the date, not after. Two reservable pavilions and a hall across 31 acres sounds generous until you consider that this is the default venue for reunions, birthdays and receptions across a large part of the southwest valley. The summer weekends go a long way ahead, and the two either side of the fourth of July are effectively spoken for by the festival itself. Everything runs through Riverton Parks and Recreation on 801-208-3101.
Come on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon if the hall is any part of the reason for the trip. About fifteen hours a week of public viewing is a narrow window, and the rest of the week the building belongs to whoever reserved it. The displays inside are the closest thing this city has to a museum, and they are free, which makes the timing the only barrier.
And walk the whole site rather than parking at the nearest thing to you. The arena at the south end, the skate park, the courts and the hall at the entrance are four quite different pieces of ground within a few minutes of each other, and driving between them is both slower and less informative than the walk. The other park in this city worth the same treatment is the twenty acres on the west side, which works in the season this one does not.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Keep reading
More of Riverton on The Local
Things to do
The top 7, ranked
A park with a rodeo arena in it, a river on the far edge, and a pond open every day in season.
Read the guideTown Days
Riverton Town Days, in order
A rodeo in June, an evening parade on 3 July, fireworks on the fourth, three separate sites.
Read the guideThe river
The Jordan River through Riverton
Two trailheads, a county golf course, and a city named for a river it grew away from.
Read the guideThe west side
Western Springs Park
Twenty acres the county handed over in 2017, with a splash pad and a sledding hill.
Read the guideMoving here
A southwest valley address
Two expressways, no railway platform, and what fifty years of building west did.
Read the guideThe companion
Riverton, the whole picture
The park, the festival, the river edge, the west side and the address, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The park, answered
Thirty one acres, at 1452 West 12600 South, and it reopened in 2015 after a large renovation. The amenities are three playgrounds, four basketball hoops, eight pickleball courts, two tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, a skate park, a splash pad, a rodeo arena, a Veterans memorial, three restrooms, three workout stations, dedicated parking and a walking path around the central grass, plus two reservable pavilions, a large one for about 400 people and a small one for about 72, three mini shelters, and the Old Dome Meeting Hall at the entrance.
Every day from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night, a longer daily window than most municipal parks on this valley floor keep. The splash pad inside it runs on a shorter season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the Old Dome Meeting Hall at the entrance keeps its own hours: public viewing on Monday to Wednesday afternoons, with the building reserved out Thursday to Saturday.
A public hall at the entrance to Riverton City Park, opened in 2015, built to mirror the domed church that stood in the town from the turn of the twentieth century until 1940. The original was designed by Richard K. A. Kletting, whose work includes the Utah State Capitol, construction began in 1899, and the city's account records that the community took nearly ten years to complete it. The dome shape is the City of Riverton's own logo.
In person, more than 30 days ahead, rather than through a form or a web page, which the city puts down to the unusual nature and historic significance of the building. An $800 deposit is due at the time of reservation and is fully refundable provided there is no damage to the facility or the equipment and the building is properly cleaned. It is available Thursday to Saturday each week. Start with Riverton Parks and Recreation on 801-208-3101 or [email protected].
The large pavilion holds about 400 people across 50 picnic tables and costs residents $75 for a half day or $125 for a full day, with non residents at $125 and $200. The small pavilion holds about 72 across 9 tables with two charcoal grills, at $10 and $20 for residents and $60 and $90 for non residents. Business or corporate use of the large pavilion carries a higher non refundable fee plus a refundable security deposit, so confirm the current amounts with the city.
No. Bounce houses and inflatables are not permitted at any Riverton city park, not only at the flagship one. It catches people out constantly, because a large pavilion is the obvious venue for a big children's party in the southwest valley. Plan the party without one, and check the current park rules with Riverton Parks and Recreation before you rent anything in, because municipal rules do get revised.
Yes. The Riverton Rodeo Arena carries its own address at 12800 South 1300 West at the south end of the same site and is one of the park's amenities. It is a working arena, not a heritage feature: it holds the Town Days Rodeo every June, sanctioned through the Rocky Mountain Professional Rodeo Association, along with an arena sorting competition in the same run. For the rest of the year it is simply a large fenced ring in a municipal park.
The season runs Memorial Day to Labor Day, the standard window for splash pads across this city's park system. Outside those dates it is drained and shut. The other city splash pad worth knowing about is at Western Springs Park on the west side, which runs the same season and sits beside the one purpose built sledding hill in the city, so between them those twenty acres have a use at both ends of the year.
Late April or the second half of September, if you want the park itself: the courts are free, the walking path is quiet and nothing is reserved. June and early July if you want the city at full volume, because the arena sorting competition, three nights of rodeo, a carnival, a parade and a fourth of July program with fireworks all land inside a couple of weeks. What you cannot get in that stretch is a quiet hour, because the whole site becomes a festival venue.
A park is the reason people stay in a city like this
Thirty one acres with an arena, a skate park, eight courts and a hall at the gate is a serious municipal offer for a city of this size, and how close a property sits to it changes a week in both directions, above all in the two weeks when the whole site turns into a festival. Tell me what you are weighing and I will put you with a Salt Lake County partner agent who knows which streets around this park work and which absorb late June.
Or call Scott: (435) 357-4345or send Scott a message
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