Above: If the kids are begging to swim or splash, head to Memorial Beach (tomorrow) or Celucci Park (today) to cool off. (image left posted to flickr by Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism and right posted to Hudson Rec’s Facebook page)
Today and the weekend are forecast to be hot ones. If you’re staying in town with kids, you may be looking for a place they can cool off and splash around.
My kids love to swim, but we don’t have a pool. Making do with the sprinkler gets old rather quickly. Luckily, there are some better options nearby.
An easy option for younger ones is local splash areas. All of these are free and now open for the season or will be this weekend:
Hudson has a splash pad at Celucci Park (Now open daily through 1st/2nd week of August 9:00 am – 7:00 pm)- Northborough has a free splash pad at Assabet Park. (Saturday, June 18 through September4th – Open Mon, Wed, Fri – noon – 6:00 pm; Sat & Sun 10:00 am – 4:00 pm)
- Marlborough has two public wading pools – at Sawin Street and Farrell Field (Saturday, June 18 through August 27th – Open daily noon – 5:45 pm with gates locked at 6:00 pm)
(Warning: make a decision up front about whether or not to bring money for the ice cream truck. There’s a good chance one will come by while you’re there!)
If your kids are demanding real swimming (like mine are) then you may need to find a beach. No need to drive for hours in traffic. Take advantage of area lakes.
You can borrow the Mass State Park pass for free parking from the Library or Southborough Rec. The state’s local swimming holes include:
Hopkinton State Park*- Ashland State Park
- Cochituate State Park (in Natick)
If the pass isn’t available that day, for state residents it’s only $8 per car (or $60 for season pass). But if you are going to pay, there are other local options. A couple of area towns are also also selling access to non-residents.
Out-of-towners can pay $10/car for the day or $40/season to visit these two lakeside beaches:
Memorial Beach in Marlborough (Saturday, June 18 through August 28th open daily 11:00 am-6:45 pm with life guards on duty. Check the site for details past that date.- Centennial Beach in Hudson (Saturday, June 18 through August 14th open weekdays 9:00 am – 7:00 pm and weekends/holidays 11:00 am to 7:00 pm; August 15th to August 20th daily 11:00 am – 7:00pm)
Do you have a favorite water play spot not listed above? (Or have a tip about one of these to share?)
Shout out in the comments.
And for more tips on what to do with your kids this summer, you can pull down stories from the Features menu.
*Both Hopkinton and Cochituate websites warn that parking may be closed when they reach full capacity. I’ve never experienced that at Hopkinton and been there on very busy days. I couldn’t tell you how commonly that occurs at Cochituate.
