Renton Veteran’s Memorial Park

Seattle has been blessed with the sun for the last few days so I figured I’d take advantage of it during my lunch break. Just got a new job located in Renton, so not entirely familiar with the area. I thumbed through a few parks located near my workplace and came across the Renton Veteran’s Memorial Park. The pictures looked nice enough and since it was in honoring our Veterans, I figured it was probably worth checking out.
This park was located about 9 minutes away from my work and regret wasting my precious lunch break driving to and from this facility. Don’t get me wrong, the park was nice, had tennis courts, baseball field, ample parking, picnic tables and a playground for kids, a grill and lastly and most importantly … a skate park. Now we all know that skate parks bring all the hooligans to the yard. Walking into the park, I was immediately greeted by a motley looking crew. Literally, «Hey, can I get your numba? Can I have it? You not in to me baby? Why you hating?» It was like a bad joke that wouldn’t end. Unfortunately, I conveniently forgot my headphones so there was no escaping it. Honestly, I was caught off guard… It was around 1pm, shouldn’t you be in school of some sort? Humored them for 2 minute, tried to end the convo for 5 minutes, ignored them for 2 minutes, left park under 10 minutes after arrival.
I wouldn’t entirely recommend going to this park alone unless you’re into that. I wanted a place to eat my lunch and get some sun, not to be badgered. Good for kids, yes with adult supervision, the playground is nice. Family or work picnics? Sure, this park will do nicely. Trying to catch some rays during your lunch break, eh ain’t nobody got time for that.

I love coming to this park. We come at least 3x per week weather permitting. We live like 15 mins away and its a nice walk over. My kids love to play on the big playground and run around on the grass. There is a full sized tennis court, basket ball court and a baseball diamond. There is usually some type of team practicing something here. The park also has a loop around it for walking or riding your bike. Also I’m pretty sure that dogs are also allowed at this park. There is usually someone here walking their dog around the loop.

This is an excellent little memorial. Great design and a fantastic way to commemorate our veterans.

This is a tasteful tribute to veterans but there isn’t anything more to this park than what you see on the city’s website. The memorial consists of marble plaques that form walls in the shape of a star. Kind of a neat effect though when you’re standing there looking at it, you can’t actually tell it’s a star so it’s not as cool as it sounds. I wouldn’t really call it a park because there really isn’t anywhere to walk around and though there are benches to sit on, I don’t really know what you’d do there. It’s right off a busy street so it’s kind of noisy and not a very contemplative place, either. If you’re going to the Renton Historical Museum (see my other review), you could certainly stop by but I don’t know that I’d make a special trip to go there.