Saunders Park

Let’s be honest, the park can feel a bit sketchy after dark so I wouldn’t even consider visiting this park on my own unless it was the middle of the afternoon or I had other people with me. That being said, I’ve been here several times around dusk to watch roller derby and while I certainly didn’t feel comfortable walking to the restrooms by myself, nobody approached me or did anything else to earn my distrust. There were some people who appeared to be transients wandering about, but they weren’t approaching me or the playing children.
This is actually a pretty nice park. There is a water park area/​play area near the street. The water elements are colorful and whimsical. Even I would love to run through these water features! I don’t know when the water gets turned on (particularly during this era of the drought) but it looks pretty nice an must be popular with local families trying to keep cool in that hot Bakersfield summer sun.
There are two outdoor basketball courts just on the North side of the parking lot. They seem to be in pretty good shape and there are always people using them to shoot some hoops whenever I’m there in the evenings.
There are two large areas, on either side of restrooms, with play equipment and swings. The play equipment is in good shape and seems to always be covered with happy children. There are swings in each area for older kids and some that are perfect for toddlers.
The restrooms can be hit or miss. Sometimes when I come they are clean and have toilet paper and sometimes when I come the toilets are stopped up and the toilet paper is lacking (on my last visits, two of the four toilets were backed up and the other two didn’t have toilet paper — on the previous visit they were all fine). I don’t remember there ever being sufficient soap so I highly recommend bringing your own wipes.
There are plenty of picnic tables in the nearby grass, and there are families EVERYWHERE enjoying this park. And there is quite a bit of grass to run and play on.
There is a large, covered, enclosed arena where I come, periodically, to watch teams square off against each other in flat track roller derby. It is the home court of Derby Revolution of Bakersfield. I really enjoy watching the games here, and will return when their season starts again next September.

Tuesday night roller hockey can’t be beat. Pick-​up in the Summer and league during the Fall through Spring.