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Two in Tow & On The Go | Revisiting Picnic Park before it’s gone

Point Defiance Park’s Main Picnic Shelter playground in April 2026. Photo by Tonya Strickland.

As residents of the Parks Tacoma district prepare to vote later this month, a tucked-away playground just over the bridge is worth one last visit. Because its days may be numbered.

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We’re talking again about the Point Defiance Park Main Picnic Shelter playground that I wrote about in November 2023. I have a soft spot for this playground because it has original play equipment from 1996 … making its playset the oldest in Parks Tacoma’s system. It was also built by the same playground manufacturers as one of our favorite parks in California. Both were log-based construction with quirky features and a teamwork vibe. They felt a lot like stepping back into a different era of play. 

April 28 special election

Parks Tacoma — an urban recreation district that runs 40-plus parks, community centers and the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium — will ask those who live within its boundaries to weigh in on a bond renewal package in its April 28 special election. Voter materials say the bond would generate $155 million for more than 100 parks and rec projects. The ask comes as the district wraps up work from its previously approved 2014 bond, which created places like the Tacoma Foss Waterway playground at Melanie Jan LaPlant Dressel Park (aka “the tower park”) and the zoo’s newly remodeled Pacific Seas Aquarium. And now, the next round of upgrades is lining up. 

Parks Tacoma promotional material

Labeled Proposition 1, the bond proposal needs a 60% majority vote to pass. If approved, the district’s fix-it list would address what’s aging, replace what’s worn out, and build new things some say are needed the most.  The projects would roll out over the next six years.

A district press release about the bond prominently featured the picnic playground as a project already on that list — for demolition. A new “nature-themed playground and outdoor education area” would take its place, but at an entirely new location within Point Defiance Park. The new playground would move from behind the zoo’s outer boundary fencing to what would be Point Defiance’s newly expanded Mildred Street entrance on the southwest edge of the park. A new parking area and restroom would also take shape there.

I’m not here to say whether district voters should approve or deny the bond measure. I’m here to say that this spring marks a transition moment for the little picnic park. And if you don’t go see it now, you’ll probably never get it.

Picnic Park recap

If you’ve been reading along for a while, you might remember my column from November 2023 titled “a forgotten treasure at Point Defiance.” Tucked between the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and the marina, it sits up on a narrow bluff in the Main Picnic Area, surrounded by trees (of course) and overlooking the water.

This is not your shiny, crowded, modern playground with rubber surfacing and just-right Instagram angles. This is log-style construction, faded plastic, and the kind of space where kids invent their own rules because there aren’t a million signs telling them how to play. It’s a place where things are a little rough around the edges. Where not everything works. But it’s also one where imagination has to fill in the gaps which is some of my favorite kind of childhood play to witness.

Back when we first found this park, it felt like we had stumbled onto a secret.

Me on the playground trails, March 2026

No crowds. Just space to explore. And, for this mama, it reminded me exactly of our old go-to playground in Paso Robles, California. We loved that place.

I wrote about that one, named Barney Schwartz Park, three times for the blog. The playground there opened in 2002 and was replaced by 2018. I still remember being two years before the revamp, with newborn Wyatt and toddler Clara on my very first solo outing as a mom-of-two.

Even in 2016, parts of that playground were showing their age. Boards closing off sections. Climbing nets frayed. And then there was some sliding monkey-bar track thing that I thought had rusted over because it was hard to scoot across. (More on that later). That’s kind of the lifecycle of playgrounds. And Tacoma is no exception — Point Defiance’s little picnic playground has followed a similar path. Most features are broken, and already gone. Others are hanging on.

An April 2026 visit

When I visited the playground this week with Two In Tow adopted pal Greg Spadoni, the hand-powered scoot platform was gone. Sad. All that remained of it is the steel twist-and-crank track on its log frame.

TurnAcross and platform in 2023

The manufacturer called it the “TurnAcross,” and it was one of those rare pieces that taught teamwork. One kid cranked, another rode, and suddenly they were communicating, coordinating, figuring it out together. I’m really glad we documented it in 2023.

The TurnAcross without its platform.

But not everything had disappeared. And this is where the “go now” part comes in.

The SkyGame

The SkyGame is still there. If you’ve never seen one, this particular piece of play equipment looks like an overhead rail system where kids move themselves across by pushing pod-like grips up and across the track. Think hand-over-hand “walking,” but upward.

TurnAcross at Picnic Park in March 2026

It’s physical, a little awkward, and just challenging enough to make the kids determined to figure it out. I can say with certainty that few kids did. Yes, it’s the same “sliding monkey-bar track thing” I mentioned above from the California park. The “rusty” one we couldn’t scoot across. Because … it was not rust. Everyone was just doing it wrong. The pods are not meant to scoot. It’s a wild revelation, I tell you!

SkyGame was made by BigToys, a local playground design firm that eventually became Tennessee-based PlayCore. BigToys previously installed the SkyGame and the Turn Across at both Point Defiance and Barney Schwartz. I knew those parks looked similar.

The heart of it

The features of these parks were part of a shift toward modular playground systems that have mostly been updated in today’s park world — but Point Defiance Park has one survivor. For now.

And that’s really the heart of it.

This isn’t about arguing for or against new playgrounds nor how to fund them. It’s about recognizing that we’re in a brief, in-between moment for the picnic park in all of its faded 90s glory. And that the your chance to experience the relic that is SkyGame, and whether you can master its upward-walking-hands test is now.

Here I am demonstrating such an experience. Kinda:

So if you’ve got a free afternoon, maybe skip the main attractions just this once and take the kids over to the Main Picnic Shelter. Look for that pop of blue slide peeking through the trees … and experience a little piece of playground history.

See ya out there!

Ps. I’m not certain, but the picnic park site at Point Defiance’s Main Picnic Shelter sure looks like the same location early pioneers often gathered at for “basket lunch” socials and club events in the early 1900s:

If you go:

What: Point Defiance Main Picnic Shelter (and playground).

Easiest way to get there: Use the Pearl Street Entrance into Point Defiance. Park the car, then climb the rustic stairs from the Point Defiance Marina at 5912 Waterfront Dr., Tacoma. The Main Picnic Shelter (and playground) sit on top of the bluff above the marina shop and Commencement Bay. 

Parking: Day-use parking at Point Defiance is free.

Why: The playground is from 1996. Its days are numbered.