BallardVale Park Playground
164-168 Andover St
Andover, MA 01810
Date/Time Visited: 6/13/21, 4:30 PM
Bathrooms: 1 port-a-potty along the back fence
Parking: Limited at the playground but there are quiet neighborhoods bordering the park area that allow for two hour free parking
Shade: One pavilion
Benches/Tables: Yes
Additional Features: Little League field, a hard top court with donated push cars and other ride-on toys & A Little Free Library
Don’t let the tiny six car parking lot deter you, BallardVale Park is a great place to spend part of your day. This neighborhood park, open from sunrise to sunset, has a lot to offer a variety of age groups with many nearby streets (Center Street, Church Street) that offer two hour free on street parking and a short walk to the playground.
Situated in the Ballardvale section of Andover near to the MBTA station of the same name, BallardVale Park has two separate play structures, a small sandbox filled with donated trucks and digging equipment, a large number and variety of swings, and dozens of donated ride-on toys available for anyone to use. The MBTA station is active, especially during the work week, making it an exciting place for a train loving little guy or gal to spend time watching the commuter rail, freight trains or quick moving AMTRAK. The play structure that is geared towards the 2-5 year old crowd is shaped like a train, too, adding a little extra whimsy to the playground experience. The larger climbing structure has a rock wall and sprawling climbing net, almost in the style of those ninja obstacle course television shows, as well as two twisting slides.
Because the BallardVale Park is in a section of town that I travel often, I end up passing by at different times of the day and in varying weather conditions. One thing I have consistently noticed is that on very hot, sunny days you will most likely find the park empty. There is really no shade to speak of aside from the one pavilion. All climbing structures and slides are totally exposed to the heat and sun and the hard top areas similarly become sun drenched. Because of this, I prefer to come to the park in the early morning or later into the evening.
The first time I went to BallardVale Park I was honestly a little confused by the dozens and dozens of ride-on toys that are scattered around the park. If you find yourself there you might see a scooter, plasma car, trike, a battery operated jeep type vehicle (with the batteries removed), and tiny fire truck just to name a few. I didn’t quite understand how they all had gotten there or why they had been left behind but as my kids and I continued to visit this park the presence of these vehicles became more ordinary to us. So when it came to writing down some of our experiences at BallardVale Park I decided to do a little digging about how these ride-on toys became a park staple. From what I gathered, BallardVale Park was rebuilt in 2015 but it seems that the tradition of donating outdoor toys to this park precedes the renovation. Local parents reached out to the larger community via social media or word of mouth requesting outdoor toys and the community has responded by filling up the hard top section. Toys get weeded out as they deteriorate and are either housed or purged when fall turns to winter (this part I haven’t been able to piece together but someone behind the scenes of BallardVale Park is really making it happen). So, what seemed to confuse me initially is really just an example of people coming together to make their park a little more special than it had been before.
Thank you to reader Meghan Murphy for submitting this information about the BallardVale Park Playground in Andover! If you would like to learn about how to become a contributing writer and get paid to share useful information for local parents, please email Barbara at barbarae@macaronikid.com.
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