Pleasant Hill Park has a place for everyone
Editor’s Note: This is the ninth in The Pioneer series on local parks.
PLEASANT HILL, CA (Oct. 14, 2021) — The aptly named Pleasant Hill Park is the city’s central park.
Flanked by the Teen Center and Aquatics Center on one end and the Senior Center on the other, the park is the perfect spot for community gatherings, sports and meeting up after school.
On a typical weekday afternoon, you will find plenty of children playing in the three playgrounds, teens shooting hoops, families walking dogs and residents attending to their plots in the community garden.
The 16.5-acre park at 147 Gregory Lane also features bocce courts, baseball/softball fields, horseshoe pits and three group picnic areas that can be reserved, one of which stands beneath a grove of redwood trees. Pleasant Hill Rec runs the park’s bocce leagues.
Daniel Kantine of Concord visits the park often with his two young children.
Room to spread out
“I like this park for the people who come here, nice people,” he said. “It has everything – lots of activities like sports, places for kids and dogs. It’s not too crowded because there’s lots of room to spread out.”
The sand area is a popular spot for kids. As many parks have eliminated the sand below play equipment, Pleasant Hill Park has a special area for digging and making sandcastles.
“We love the sand pit,” says Manami Kunz of Pleasant Hill, who brings her 8-year-old daughter Stella. “Every time we come, she goes right for the sand pit.”
Kunz and her friend Sara Sullenger have been meeting at the playground often with their children since the beginning of the COVID pandemic as a way to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Sometimes they join a larger group of moms while the kids play.
“This park has something for everyone,” Sullenger said. “Teenagers can play sports, and the younger ones enjoy the playground. It’s also nice and shady on the warmer days.”
There is also a fenced playground just for toddlers, keeping them safe from running off.
Unlike most parks in Concord and Clayton, Pleasant Hill Park is owned by the Recreation and Park District rather than the city. The district is 70 years old, older than the city of Pleasant Hill, and runs most of the city’s parks and recreation programs using separate tax money.
Pleasant Hill Park will host its first Haunted Trail, a free Halloween-themed path that will delight all ages, 6-8 p.m. Oct. 29. Everyone will receive a goodie bag and not too many frights. Registration is required for a specific time slot and closes on Oct. 22. Register at pleasanthillrec.com.
Kara Navolio
Kara Navolio is a freelance writer, telling stories of real life heroes and interesting people for several local newspapers since 2015, including The Pioneer and Lamorinda Weekly. She is also the editor of a local magazine, Northgate Living, and her debut children’s picture book Everybody Can Dance! was released by Brandylane Publishers, Inc. in May 2019. She has lived in Walnut Creek with her husband for 30 years and is the mom of two now grown children.