J Magazine Winter 2018

J MAGAZINE (3)
the superhero hall alone.
Because our kids are home-schooled, we
are pass holders and often go on weekday
afternoons just to get out of the house. We
ended up going back to see the “Hall of
Heroes” exhibit a few days later because the
kids liked it so much.
Treaty Oak
After leaving MOSH, another fun stop
for kids is Treaty Oak Park. It’s just a block
away so you can walk from the museum.
It’s a massive old live oak whose branches
extend to the ground. You can walk under it
on the boardwalk. It’s a nice shady spot on
a warm day for a picnic with the kids after
a museum trip. Our kids enjoy just running
around the tree and taking pictures, and on
our last trip they even found a few painted
rocks! It’s a really cool spot for any age kid or
even adults.
Riverwalk
Downtown has two great areas to walk
along the river on the Northbank and
Southbank. It’s pretty easy to hop on the
Northbank Riverwalk just up from the
Cummer or the Southbank Riverwalk from
MOSH. It’s a nice walk, and everyone gets
some exercise. The older kids like to check
out the yachts that sometimes park along
the walk.
On our second trip to MOSH, we decided
to head outside and walk around Friendship
Fountain because the weather was pretty
nice. None of the kids was too impressed by
the fountain, but it does offer a cool view of
the city.
They did, however, really like the mosaic
mural under the Main Street bridge, along
the Riverwalk path right past the fountain.
It’s a cool mirrored mosaic that extends
under the bridge. My kids actually had
an opportunity to work with the mosaic
creators, Roux Art, over the summer
on another mosaic project that will be
installed somewhere in the city. So they got
excited when they recognized the name
of the creator and could make a personal
connection with a piece of public art.
Klutho Park
About a half block north of State Street,
between Laura and Pearl, is Klutho Park.
Once a month, Springfield Preservation and
Restoration (SPAR) hosts an event in the
park called Second Sunday. It’s a familyfriendly
occasion with food trucks, vendors
and live music.
Our kids enjoy it because they can get a
snow cone or a snack. The grown-ups can
grab a beer, and we can just hang out in
the park and listen to music. The little kids
can run wild in the wide open space in the
middle of the city. There is a baseball field
in the park, and most of the time someone
brings some gear so the kids can play. Our
8-year-old son looks forward to that.
SPAR uses the proceeds from the annual
Jacksonville PorchFest to fund a new piece
of public art for the park’s sculpture walk.
The first piece installed was a metal giraffe
since Jacksonville’s original zoo was located
in the neighborhood. Our older kids have
enjoyed seeing the new pieces that have
been added over the last few years.
What’S needED for
kids & families
With Jacksonville having the largest urban
parks systems in the country, you would
think they would be better maintained,
especially Downtown. With the exception
of Hemming Park, there is not really a park
Downtown where we can take our kids that
seems clean, well maintained and safe.
There is not a park with a good playground
Downtown to take the younger kids, which
typically has us driving into Riverside or
Avondale for them to play. The public space
off Main Street behind the Downtown library
has really cool public art sculptures, but it’s
often filled with transients.
Walkability is another issue. We do not
often find ourselves strolling the streets of
Downtown. We have lived in Atlanta and
Boston where we could park and wander
the streets of those downtowns, exploring
cool shops, getting a bite to eat or stopping
by a park or playground. We don’t really find
ourselves doing that in this city. That said,
you can park near Hemming Park and walk
around in that area to several destinations.
The problem is just that once you leave
Hemming, everything else is spread out.
Downtown lacks dining choices for
families. There are two restaurants that
we gravitate toward: Burrito Gallery and
Superfood and Brew. Superfood isn’t open
for dinner, and the menu isn’t the friendliest
for children, but if your kids are older, or
they are vegan/vegetarian as ours are, it is
delicious. Burrito Gallery has great food, but
the atmosphere isn’t necessarily great for
kids, depending on your perspective. That
said, when we are Downtown for the day, as
we were recently, we usually eat at Burrito
Gallery, and the entire family enjoys the
food. We’d love to see some more restaurants
Downtown that have patio seating and a
menu that works for all ages.
The Landing should be a huge draw for
families. It’s situated on one of the most
beautiful spots in town. It would make a
great location for a family-friendly restaurant
so a family could enjoy the view. Instead, it
is full of shops and restaurants that do not
appeal to us, such as Hooters, Maverick’s
Live and Fionn MacCool’s. Some folks in the
city would like to see the complex torn down
and replaced with a green space. We don’t
support this idea. While a small playground,
park or other green space there would be
nice, we would like to see it utilized primarily
for more family-friendly eateries and retail.
Kat and Dave Ott and their four children
live in Springfield.
WINTER 2018-19 | J MAGAZINE 63