By Scott Buehler, Moving UtahThe live question
Which of the ten is actually worth driving to?
Three of them, and the city's own list points you to which three. Of the ten parks on that list, exactly three carry any description at all: R. Kenneth Baldwin Country Park at 2825 West 3300 South, Sports Park at 4215 South 3900 West and Stonefield Park at 4529 South 4700 West. Those three have the pavilions, the table counts, the electricity, the restrooms and the playground access written down. The other seven have an address and a name.
That is a reliable guide even though nobody set out to rank the parks. A city writes down the things it rents, and it rents pavilions. So if you are driving across town for an afternoon, drive to one of those three. If the park at the end of your own street is one of the other seven, it is a neighborhood green rather than a destination, and you will learn more about it in ten minutes of standing in it than from anything published.
Two more things follow. The city does not publish a size for any West Haven park, so the pavilion table counts are the best guide there is to which one is largest, and no park publishes a parking statement either. The one parking rule the city does spell out is that there is no overnight parking in any park, including for semis and other large vehicles. Everything else about how you arrive is left to your judgment.
The exception to all of it is Prevedel Park Campground at 1300 South 2300 West, which is on the park list like the others and behaves like nothing else in the county, because the city rents overnight camping spots on the trail beside it. The river page covers that ground properly.
All ten
The whole park system, and exactly what the city says about each one
Ten parks on ten and a half square miles, from the city's own list. The third column is the entire published description in each case, showing which parks the city describes in full and which it only lists.
| The park | Address | What the city publishes about it | Bookable |
|---|---|---|---|
| R. Kenneth Baldwin Country Park | 2825 W 3300 S | Two pavilions with 26 and 8 tables, playground access, electricity, a kitchenette and restrooms; also the Parks and Recreation office | Yes, two pavilions |
| Sports Park | 4215 S 3900 W | A pavilion with 5 large tables, playground access, electricity and restrooms, and no kitchenette | Yes, one pavilion |
| Stonefield Park | 4529 S 4700 W | A pavilion with 9 tables, playground access, electricity, a kitchenette and restrooms | Yes, one pavilion |
| Prevedel Park Campground | 1300 S 2300 W | Overnight camping spots on the trail just north of the city cemetery, arranged through Parks and Recreation | By telephone only |
| Holmes Estates Park | 2450 W 1800 S | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
| Fair Grove Park | 4200 S 4700 W | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
| Country Haven Park | 3950 S 3650 W | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
| Staker Park | 3549 W 2875 S | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
| Sycamore Park | 2287 W 2625 S | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
| Tuscan Meadows Park | 3150 S 2150 W | An address. Nothing else is published | No |
Every row above is West Haven City's own park list and its own descriptions. No acreage and no parking statement is published for any of the ten. All ten share the same hours, six in the morning to ten at night, and the same rule book. The city's list runs to ten parks in all.
One rule book governs all ten and it is worth reading once, because it is stricter than most and it is enforced at the events as well as on ordinary days. No alcoholic beverages and no glass containers. The parks are a smoke free zone. No horses on the grass. No fireworks. No overnight parking, including semis and other large vehicles. Pets must be kept on leashes, and the city adds its own instruction to pick up after them. No inflatable toys, dunking machines or anything similar, which rules out the bounce house a birthday party would otherwise bring. No motorized vehicles except wheelchairs on the lawns. No unauthorized team sports on the fields and courts. And the parks are under twenty four hour video surveillance.
The hours are the other thing to have right. Every park opens at six in the morning and closes at ten at night, and the city adds that reservations end promptly at ten, which is a sentence written by somebody who has had to move a party along. There is no separate winter schedule published and no seasonal closure for any of the ten.
Reservations run from about the middle of April to the middle of October, in one of two time slots a day or as a full day booking, and every booking takes a $75 cleaning deposit in the form of a check. The city publishes no rental rate beyond that deposit, so ask Parks and Recreation for the rest. You can book online through the city's sports site or call, and it is worth confirming the current deposit and the exact dates when you book. Parks and Recreation is at 2825 West 3300 South on 801-731-8882, Monday to Thursday from nine until five.
The park system at a glance
10
parks on the city's own list, of which three carry any published description
4
bookable pavilions, at Country Park, which has two, Sports Park and Stonefield Park
6 AM to 10 PM
the hours at every park, all year, with no separate winter schedule
0
published acreages and published parking statements across all ten parks
The big one
R. Kenneth Baldwin Country Park, two pavilions, an arena, and the counter you book everything at
This is the park the city built its civic life around. The Large Pavilion takes twenty six tables, which is a genuinely big shelter by the standards of any city park in this county, and the Arena Pavilion takes eight. Both come with electricity, a kitchenette, restrooms and playground access, a better standard than most municipal pavilions offer, and the reason these two book out first in June.
The second thing on this ground is the arena. The city names an Arena Pavilion, and Parks and Recreation lists an arena among the things it books, but the city does not publish an arena capacity, a surface, a size or a rental rate. So the arena is real and bookable and thinly described, and the only route to those numbers is the telephone.
Third, the Parks and Recreation office sits on this ground at 2825 West 3300 South, which makes it the counter for everything the department runs: pavilions, the arena, cemetery appointments and the camping on the river trail. Monday to Thursday, nine to five, on 801-731-8882. If you are dealing with West Haven at all, this is the number. The calendar page covers what happens on this ground in the fourth week of June.
The details
Getting there
The park sits on 3300 South at about 2825 West, which on the Ogden grid is a straight run north and east from City Hall at 4150 South 3900 West, two and a half miles and six to eight minutes. Come here rather than to City Hall if the errand is a park booking, a cemetery appointment or a night on the trail, because this is where that department actually sits.
Before you go
- The Large Pavilion takes twenty six tables and the Arena Pavilion eight; both have electricity, a kitchenette and restrooms.
- Book from about the middle of April to the middle of October, in one of two daily slots or as a full day, on a cleaning deposit by check.
- Reservations end promptly at ten at night, and the park closes at the same hour.
- The arena has no published capacity, surface or rate. Ask on 801-731-8882 rather than assuming anything.
- Late June is the one week this park is busy, when West Haven Days is held here.
The other two you can book
Sports Park is the City Hall park, and Stonefield sits out on the west side
Sports Park at 4215 South 3900 West is effectively the City Hall park: its address and the city offices at 4150 South 3900 West sit within a few dozen feet of one another, which makes it the easiest park in the city to combine with an errand. Its pavilion takes five large tables and has electricity, restrooms and playground access, and the city is careful to say that there is no kitchenette here, which is the one difference between this shelter and the other three.
Stonefield Park at 4529 South 4700 West is the west side option and it is the better equipped of the two: nine tables, electricity, a kitchenette, restrooms and playground access. It also sits nearest to the schools on the western half of the city, which for a household on that side makes it the practical default rather than a drive across town to Country Park.
Both run on the same rule book, the same hours and the same reservation terms as everything else, which is the whole point of the way this city runs its parks. Learn the rules once and they apply everywhere, including at the campground on the river and at the events in June.
The details
Getting there
Sports Park shares its corner of the grid with City Hall at 4150 South 3900 West, so if you are already at the city offices you are already there. Stonefield Park is out at 4529 South 4700 West on the west side, about a mile and a half further west, five to seven minutes by car on the section roads.
Before you go
- Sports Park's pavilion is the one without a kitchenette. Bring what you need or book one of the other three.
- Stonefield's pavilion takes nine tables with a kitchenette and restrooms, the best equipped shelter on the west side.
- Both take the same cleaning deposit by check and the same reservation season, roughly the middle of April to the middle of October.
- Both close at ten at night with everything else, and reservations end promptly at that hour.
- The citywide rules apply at both: no alcohol or glass, no fireworks, pets leashed, no inflatable toys and no motorized vehicles on the lawns.
Seven of the ten parks publish an address and nothing else, and no West Haven park publishes an acreage or a parking place. Holmes Estates, Fair Grove, Country Haven, Staker, Sycamore and Tuscan Meadows all appear on the city's list with a street address and no description whatever, and Prevedel Park is described only by its camping sentence. So anyone planning an afternoon at one of the seven cannot find out from a city source whether it has a playground, a restroom, a shelter, a court or a path, and the amenity lists that circulate on park directory sites for these names were not published by West Haven. Treat them as neighborhood ground, go and look before you plan around one, and if a specific facility matters, call Parks and Recreation on 801-731-8882 during the four day office week.
Indoors
A barn that seats 124, and a community room the city gives to residents over sixty
The city rents two indoor rooms and one of them is genuinely unusual. The Barn at 3785 South Green Farm Way is a city rentable hall inside the Green Farm development, available every day of the week from nine in the morning until nine at night, with the event ending promptly at nine and clean-up finished by ten. Its maximum is 124 people and the city says that number must be kept to at all times. It goes on a first come, first served basis through City Hall on 801-731-4519, and no fee or deposit is published for it.
The Community Room at City Hall, 4150 South 3900 West, is the smaller option: a maximum of 40 people, ten tables and 32 chairs, available every day including business hours into the evening, bookable up to one month at a time. Residents aged 60 and over may use it free of charge during business hours, which is the only concession the city publishes for any of its facilities. For everyone else, no fee is published, which again means a telephone call.
Between them, a barn for 124 and a room for 40 are the whole of the city's indoor public space. There is no library branch here, no recreation center and no municipal pool, so an indoor booking in West Haven means one of these two or a drive to a neighboring city. That absence is a real feature of life here and it is covered properly on the page on moving here.
The details
Getting there
Green Farm Way is a newer street inside the Green Farm development, between Sports Park and Country Haven Park on the grid, roughly a mile and a half from City Hall. It is new enough that some mapping services have not caught up with it, so if a route fails, navigate to 3785 South and work east or west along the development's own streets. Bookings and enquiries go through City Hall on 801-731-4519.
Before you go
- The hall holds 124 people and the city says that ceiling applies at all times, not on average.
- The event ends promptly at nine at night and clean-up has to be finished by ten. That is a hard stop, not a guideline.
- It is first come, first served, so ring early for a June or December date.
- No fee or deposit is published for The Barn or for the Community Room. Ask when you book.
- The Community Room at City Hall is free to residents aged 60 and over during business hours, and holds 40 with ten tables and 32 chairs.
The recreation program
A long roster of youth sports, and two the city runs with nowhere obvious to hold them
The recreation department runs a longer list than the park system would suggest. The youth activities span the usual ball sports, baseball, softball and basketball and both flag and tackle football, along with tennis and pickleball, and less usual entries like hockey, karate, fishing and archery, plus an outdoor recreation camp. Sign-ups go through the city's own sports portal and schedules and standings through a separate scores site, both linked from the recreation page, where the full current roster lives. The office is at 2825 West 3300 South (Country Park) on 801-731-8882, Monday to Thursday, nine to five.
Two entries on that list are worth a second look. The city runs a fishing program and an archery program, but it has no fishery and no archery range of its own, and it does not say where either is held. That is not a contradiction, just a gap: a small department books ground it does not own, and nobody has written down where. If either is the reason your household is interested, that is a call to make before you sign up.
What is also thin is anything about cost. The recreation page refers to a fee schedule for the arena and the athletic fields but does not show the schedule, and no registration fee or sign-up window is published for the programs. So the department is genuinely busy and genuinely hard to plan around from a screen, and the four day office week is the constraint on fixing that.