1. Battle Creek Regional Park
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (651) 748-2500
Address: 2300 Upper Afton Rd. East
Description: Battle Creek Regional Park, consisting of 1,840 acres in the southeast corner of St. Paul and southern Maplewood, provides a large natural area in a highly developed urban environment. The park’s extensive areas of woods, wetlands, and grasslands provide habitat for many species of wildlife, including deer, foxes, herons, egrets, and hawks. In summer, the park offers biking and hiking trails. Winter visitors can tour the park on groomed cross-country trails. A large picnic pavilion accommodates groups of up to 500 people, and smaller picnic shelters are also available. In summer the park has a weekly concert series that showcases everything from local alternative acts to acoustic jazz combos.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 1360 North Lexington Pkwy.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 101 Snelling Lake Rd.
4. Mears Park
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 366 Sibley St.
Description: Located near Galtier Plaza in the distinctive Lowertown neighborhood of St. Paul, Mears Park serves as the neighborhood’s village commons. The park is a popular lunchtime and evening gathering spot and is filled with trees, flowers, benches, sculpture, and even a rippling creek. Summertime brings outdoor concerts, performances, events, and festivals. In winter the park’s many trees are covered with hundreds of thousands of twinkling lights.
5. Rice Park
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 140 Washington St.
Description: In the shadow of Landmark Center, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the St. Paul Public Library, and the St. Paul Hotel, St. Paul’s Rice Park is a restful yet active square of greenery and monuments. Young trees provide a little shade during the day, but the park is at its best for summer concerts and as the ice sculpture hub of the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival.