CityGarden

The format of this blog will be a review combined with my traditional style of post: my rambling stories or opining of the goings on inside sports, or whatever else I write about.

This past weekend I was in StL for my mom's surprise 50th birthday party - which was on Friday evening. With that, Kristen and I made plans with some old friends - two of whom just had a baby - to get together and hang out on Saturday evening. So that left our Saturday morning/afternoon pretty much open. We decided to use this time to visit with our niece and nephew while at the same time alleviating my sister and brother-in-law of their parental duties for a few hours. Bella had a dance class in the morning, which we weren't able (allowed?) to attend, so we made a plan to take them out afterward and see something cool within their hometown.

After much deliberation, I decided I wanted to take them to CityGarden... even if maybe to satisfy my own curiosity about the newly developed public area in the "Gateway Mall" corridor of Downtown St. Louis. I wanted to check it out and I knew it was kid-friendly if not kid-oriented. We picked them up and got down there with no expectations and little knowledge of what there was to do. We quickly found entertainment in the form of an interactive sculpture - a large, hollowed-out, bronze head that the kids (and smaller adults) can climb into and hear the echos of their little voices. This sculpture sits atop a tilted platform that has a thin sheet of water cascading down it in front of the head. This took Nathan a good few minutes before he got bored with it and we moved on to the next attraction.

Alas... the wading pool! My mom has a pool in her backyard and these rugrats love going swimming in there. That love affair spared no exception at this urban park. No sooner did Nathan see the other kids splashing around than he was shirtless in the 2 feet of water swimming around and putting his head under... at one point he even showed me how he could walk across the bottom on his hands. Bella enjoyed this "station" on the self-guided tour as well. It was perfect depth for her... no floaties! There was a small waterfall and some rocks at one end. We had fun (yes, we, I joined in too!) jumping from rock to rock. I was about to get a picture of Nathan under the waterfall with the water splashing all over his head when we were kindly asked by someone wearing a CityGarden polo not to cross the rock area and under the waterfall as this was a rules violation... we complied. I was impressed that there was someone, maybe if not a lifeguard, but someone guarding the safety of the wading pool participants.

The kids weren't bored with the wading pool, but I wanted to keep going and have them experience the entire 2-block park. So on we went to the "dancing water" fountain where the kids continued to get wet. This time though the water source was not a stagnant (albeit chlorinated) pool, but a series of jets spitting water up from the walking surface. They loved running through the "forest" getting splashed by "trees" of water and when the jets alternated off and on in a musical chorus of squirts, they enjoyed timing being underneath one jet just as it shot out the water. This was a neat station, but as soon as Nathan discovered the smaller wading pool in this area, we needed to divert his attention once again, to maintain stimulation.

We made a quick stop at an LED screen with a camera attached, shooting video of the park. this attraction acted as sort of a reverse mirror where you could see your movements for the camera projected onto the screen. The screen was facing south (with intense sun exposure and glare) and the LED bulbs made the picture kind of difficult to see, so we didn't last long at this station. Also, the fact that the kids saw the ice cream truck and wanted a treat didn't help this thing's popularity. So we chilled for a minute and had our "Serendipity" ice cream that we bought out of an old fire truck.... kitschy, yet ironic.

We finished up the snack and washed off in the two water features on our way back out of the park. Before we left we stopped off at another somewhat interactive sculpture. It was a series of bent steel beams standing on end, in the shape of large horseshoes standing up. The kids could climb on these and slide down the arc, representing a simple, fun "jungle gym" type attraction.

That was pretty much it. We had seen most of the sculptures, swam, played, ate ice cream, and it was all FREE (except the ice cream). There was a cafe there that we did not stop at or enter. I suppose they sold lunch (which the kids and we already had) and coffee and drinks - none of which we needed to indulge in - so we bypassed it... perhaps another time. The architecture of the building was stunning, however.

I said this would be a review, so allow me to give a blanketed critique, aside from the commentary above.... Obviously, for "free" things to do in St. Louis, the Zoo is the top pick. But that can get kind of old if you've gone enough, and I know we've gone once already this year with the kids, so we wanted to change it up. Being free wasn't necessary, but it's an interesting sociological experiment to find the gems. So the sculpture was nice and eye-pleasing for the adults, along with the native plantings and overall ambiance stimulating all the 5 senses. The kids obviously had plenty of things to occupy their attention with the multiple water features - kids love getting wet in the summer time - and the interactivity of most of the sculptures. All in all I would say this place is a huge step forward for the advancement of non-sports related activities in downtown St. Louis. I will always insist that this site should have been buildings and the garden built either on the Arch grounds or in the grassy patch just west of Tucker in front of the Kiel Opera House, BUT for what they've done - whether the siting location was political or not - they did a fantastic job with this urban oasis... and I'd love to go back again (which is the whole point), probably in the evening when the lights are on!

See for yourself: www.citygardenstl.org