A community space and playground at First Park on the Lower East Side of NYC.

We stumbled across this park as we were walking through New York City near the Lower East Side. I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and said “look a playground, let’s go check it out!” Based on some research and talking to locals First Park and Playground used to be a happening spot pre-Covid, with live artwork events, community events and they even have their own concession stand!

Currently, the park, playground, basketball courts and wall ball area are all open. The playground is a great structure with slides, swings, monkey bars and climbing structures. In the summertime, they have a water spray pad! The playground is on the more basic side but still has lots of fun things to enjoy if you live in the neighborhood or are close by.

Another unique feature of this park and playground is that there is a path that connects to the basketball courts, on this path you will find a ton of different artwork from artists. The path is short but worth checking out while you already there.

Concession stand re-open date is TBD based on Covid.

If you walk across the street you will run into Pretz Square. This is a small square with benches and beautiful flowers (when in season). Again, while you are at First Park Playground (if it's Spring or Summer) it’s worth crossing the street to see all the flowers in bloom.