Irving Park

This is the park that has everything: a wet playground, a dry playground, sports fields, and room to walk your dog.
There is a dearth of parks on the side of Portland. Irving Park is an oasis for people that live in Irvington as well as the edges of Sabin neighborhood. if you come in the early morning, you can be the only person watching the mist rise from the fields. If you come during high use times, such as on the weekends you are sure to run into people you know from the neighborhood.

Great basketball hoops some even covered!
Place to play kickball or softball and open areas for playing with the dog too!
5 stars hands down!
Did I mention clean and safe!

There is a certain fact that all parks must follow. There are trees. There are fields. There is a place where you can play basketball under a roof and in the open. There is even spaces where you could play soccer or just sit. I have found this place where you can sit underneath tree. Yes — there is the fact that the bathroom is on a hill and you have a slight problem in trying to put the bike down in order to walk into the water closet. Yes the sidewalk along 7^th is rather difficult to go through. The upside (beside the hill) is the leafy green comfort of shade and the pleasant spaces where you can bike through.

As a passing-​through family that needed to wear the kids out before hotel bedtime this placed worked like a charm! The splash-​park was small but fit our needs. Sorry the wading pool didn’t work. The kids had an awesome time on the toys and collecting acorns «like Piglet». Lol.

I grew up with this park. I remember when the playground had a huge mirrored slide and a tower and when the fountain was a pool. I learned to ride my unicycle on its basketball courts, cried on its tennis courts, and ran my bike into its trees. I rolled down its hills, got soaked in its fountain, and dried off in its sun. This park has tennis courts, basketball courts, several picnic areas, a dog park, fields for various sports, a fountain, a concrete thing your kids can fall off of, and a playground. In summer there’s people playing kickball or softball, having picnics, flying rc planes, and sometimes they have movies in the park on the field. In winter, if we’re lucky enough to have snow, all the neighborhood kids rush to sled down the hills. This park has it all and I still go here as a teenager to take the dog for a walk, entertain the neighbor kids, or just swing on the swings for nostalgic purposes.

Great dog park. Cracking down on off leash laws, so if u have your dog, stay In the boarder areas

I happen to think this park has it all… swings and things for kids, BIG softball field, BIG soccer? field, a basketball court, a huge tennis court, dogs playing, people laughing… a man selling ice cream singing Italian songs (no I won’t quote Chicago), back to the review: It’s just a great park. I can sit there making a mess with art and no one will bother me except the soft summer wind. It’s a really good sign when you go to place to relax and every time you look up someone smiles at you.

Very pretty, water park for kids, tennis, tables, bathrooms, lots to do.

Irving Park is very… Portland. I say that simply because my experiences here consist of playing adult league kickball and witnessing a play acted out entirely on bicycles. It doesn’t get much more #PAF than that. Seriously.
This park has quite a nice set of baseball diamonds, at least compared to the other parks I have played kickball at. Backstops, dugouts, and a dirt infield make for a lot more stable running than, say, a lumpy ankle-​breaker like King School Park. The only downside is the lack of parking on Fremont street adjacent to the diamonds, but I can’t blame the park for that.
The bike play? Your guess is as good as mine. I can’t quite understand why anyone is doing a theatrical production that seems to have nothing to do with bikes, but everyone is riding or walking their bikes around… but some things are not meant to be understood.

This park has gently sloping hills and trees, and lots and lots of grass. There is equipment that the small humans amuse themselves on.

A fantastic jogging park with well maintained trails, low traffic, hills, and plenty of space. Well lit for early morning runs and with wide paths allowing for both dogs and strollers still with plenty of space for runners and bikers to share the space I ran here for four mornings during my recent visit to Portland and really enjoyed the scenery and variety of the space. Strongly recommended greenspace that any city would be glad to have.

Irving Park has played a major role this summer in my ongoing love affair with Portland. I’ve been living in this city since the ‘90s, and I’m still surprised and delighted on a regular basis at how great this place can be. I wanna say it’s the people, but it’s the spaces, too.
Case in point: we’ve been meeting at Irving Park all summer long, on the hill east of the basketball courts, to sweat it out at a free boot camp led by an amazing friend of mine who just wanted to do it for herself and her friends.
Being at the top of the hill, you get a great view of the park: kickballers catching fly balls on the diamonds; b-​ballers jumping and swooshing on the courts; pups and their owners running and tossing in the pet zone; lovers picnicking; acrobats tumbling; parents corralling; and us, shouting out in pain and support while we power through donkey kicks and burpee waterfalls.
Over the summer, we sometimes pick up an audience of sorts, and my awesome friend always cat-​calls to lollygaggers, encouraging them to join on in. Sometimes they do!
One of our girls talked about boot camp with strangers at the bar, and a few weeks later, two of them showed up and jumped right in! One random dude asked our leader what we were doing, and the next thing you know, he’s coming with a friend every week, who’s bringing along friends of his own.
What starts out as three girls with towels and water bottles doing jumping jacks ends up with 5 guys and 3 girls from all different walks running up and down the hills gathering strength in numbers and camaraderie that I swear could only happen here in Portland.
Awesome spaces, like Irving Park, where anything can happen, and all at once. Friendly faces who aren’t afraid to approach strangers and act a little silly in public.
So in summary: Portland, man. I just can’t quit this town.

I love this park too Erin. It’s amazing. Has everything you would ever want in a neighborhood park.
Except for a small dog park area!
Dang small-​dog prejudice dog parks!

This is an adorable park nestled in a thriving established community. It seemed like a very safe place to walk around and get some fresh air. The people were busy with different activities like playing game, running or riding bikes. It is a good sized park.

I love this park. There is alway something differnt going on, perfect for people watching. Soccer, ultimate, softball, kickball, hula-​hooping, marching band, chicks on bikes, group exercise, tai chi, hippies & guitars. You name it, I’ve probably seen it.
2 softball fields, 1 baseball field, a mini waterpark for kids, bathrooms, bbq area, off-​leash open dog area, tennis courts, basketball courts, shady areas (I mean that in a good way, not like areas full of shady people).
Extra points for plent of gently sloped hills, great for lounging on.

I come here often; it’s quickly become a go-​to because it’s super close to my local library. It has plentiful seating and grass space for lounging, plus you can also watch the baseball or softball games being played, if you’re lucky.

Love, love, love this park. The man of the house had a 30^th bday this week and so we set up a field day in the park for all our friends: softball, bocce, kickball, bbq, and beer (with an alcohol permit, of course). There are almost too many amazing parks to choose from around here, but we remembered playing kickball here a few years back and enjoyed the space.
It was perfect. We had a wonderful place in the shade to set up our table of snacks and our mini-​grill. It was right off one of the ball fields and close to the restrooms. It was also right next to the playground and water fountain/​sprinkler area which proved to be a life-​saver for those families with kids and dogs that needed relief from the 90+ temperatures.
Most of our friends had never been to Irving Park and we heard over and over again how much they liked it and surprised they were to see such a beautiful field right in town.
I don’t think we could have chosen a more perfect spot for the party.

Another reason I love my neighborhood. The awesomeness that is Irving Park beyond the fact that it’s located a short bike ride away from home is that it’s also across the street from ReRun and the County Cork. I come to this park to play kickball with my drunken hilarious friends. We play the big field and we find space every week and yet this park always has the peeps hangin and swingin, kicking, at bat, with books in hand, blankets on the cool grass or not, basketball, tennis even. So much to do if you like to get up and jump around and plenty of shade to sit and play the tunes on your guitar. I love this park, I believe this park takes up about 7 blocks, that is about 3.5 each direction.

It is a mean trick to situate your restrooms on the top of a fairly steep hill when you know that you just can’t play kickball without hops and barley after the age of 10. Your bladder will not enjoy getting kicked on the underside during that trek. It will also make you feel slightly sheepish once you reach the bathrooms because they are located next to the no-​leash area for pooches and their pets. Peeing with pets close by is weird to me. Have you ever sat up from your toilet, turned to the side, and found your cat sauntering out of his litter box? Awkward, and also brought on by beer.
Equally awkward, but in an entirely different way, is kicking a rubber ball around a rain-​soaked baseball diamond. But it’s fun, your legs get that extra stretch from working their way through a lake of mud, and the diamond is just far away enough from the part of the park used for soccer and frisbee activities so you don’t feel like a bum as you spill your beer on your shoes. For the flagship game of Dr. Huxtable and the Dirty Balls, the park was a fine, if not dandy, location. Maybe it’s more awesome without the mud, but that’s doubtful.

Now this is a classic neighborhood park. Located on the border of Irvington (
) — just look at the broad, green ball fields, the enormous (famously Irvington) trees, the happy people strolling along, teens shooting hoops, kids playing in the new water fountain and playground, dogs frolicking in the off-​leash area, plenty of old-​school picnic tables, and even tennis courts. Nothing fancy like hiking trails or stunning panoramic views of the city – just a good old honest, real neighborhood park. Historical info from PortlandOnline: «The land in the Irvington neighborhood was originally owned by Captain William Irving, who was famous in early Pacific Northwest maritime history. Part of the land occupied by Irving Park was the site of the Irvington Racetrack, one of four defunct racetracks now sporting Portland parks.» An afternoon sitting in the sunshine at Irving Park is like a taking a snapshot back in time to a simpler era.