City Center Park, and the playground volunteers built

An all abilities playground of more than 19,000 square feet at City Center Park on State Street, built in the fall of 2016 by over 4,100 volunteers working in six and a half days under professional supervision from Leathers and Associates. It was the first all abilities playground in Utah County. The surface is smooth poured material rather than woodchip or sand, ramps replace steps on the main routes, there is a swing usable directly from a wheelchair, and the park's restrooms carry wheelchair access and adult sized changing tables. There is no admission.

Yes, entirely, and there is no booking. It keeps daylight hours, the park's own parking lot and the library's between them are ample, and there is no charge for anything on the block including the library and its art. The one practical caution is shade: there is very little of it over the structure, which matters in July on a poured surface. The other is timing, because the first full week of June belongs to OremFest and the block turns into a festival ground with the parking gone.

Two windows at the west end of the children's wing, each measuring eight feet by thirty six and assembled from around five thousand pieces of glass, depicting classic children's stories. They were designed and made by Ralph Barksdale of Brigham Young University's design faculty together with Tom Holdman of Holdman Studios, took roughly eighteen months from design to installation, and were funded by Karen and Alan Ashton. They are painted mosaics rather than plain leaded glass, which is why the detail reads at close range as well as across the room, and they are free to see.

The afternoon. The windows face west, so the light comes through them late in the day and the painted mosaic detail lifts. In the morning they read as dark panels and most visitors wonder what the fuss was about. While you are in the building, the Orem City Art Collection is on the walls throughout: it traces back to a Visual Arts Commission the city formed in the late 1960s under Mayor Winston Crawford, specifically so that the new library would hold public art, and the city has digitized the collection.

The first full week of June, at City Center Park, run by the city. In 2026 it ran from 8 to 13 June. Carnival rides and food vendors opened on the 11th and ran through the 13th, and the closing Saturday carried a car show, boutiques, a talent contest, an outdoor music session, a parade at 7 p.m., a drone show and fireworks at around 9:45 p.m. Most of the festival is free; the carnival is the paid part. Dates follow the first full week rather than fixed numbers, so confirm the current year with the city.

It steps off at 7 p.m. on the closing Saturday from 800 East at 400 South, runs north to Center Street, then turns west along Center Street to State Street. That takes it straight through the middle of the city on the busiest night of the festival. Parking is the hard part rather than the viewing: the sensible approach is to park well south or west of the route and walk in, rather than attempting to cross it once the road closures are in place.

In 2026 an unlimited ride wristband for one day cost $35 in presale and $45 at the carnival itself, and individual tickets were $1 each with rides costing between three and six tickets. The presale gap is the single easiest saving in the Orem calendar and it is the sort of thing only a resident normally knows about. Presale runs through the city ahead of the festival, and the carnival occupies only the last three days of the week rather than the whole of it.

On State Street at 56 North, at the north end of the civic block, where the city offices, the Orem Public Library and the park share a single campus and a single set of parking lots. It is the easiest address to find in Orem and the closest thing the city has to a town center, which is a real consideration in a place that never developed a traditional downtown. The playground, the library and its art collection are all on the same walk.

No, and this is a common mix up. The City of Orem runs three splash pads and none of them is on the civic block: they are at Hillcrest Park, at Palisade Park, and beside the SCERA Pool on State Street. In the 2026 season they generally ran from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays, from late May to early September, and all three have concessions; hours shift year to year, so confirm the current season with the city. City Center Park's water is the fountain rather than a play feature, and the reason to come here is the playground and the library.