Loring Park

This is one of many great green spaces in the middle of Minneapolis. Take the bridge over to see the sculpture gardens as well. There are a few ponds, beautiful shade trees and benches everywhere to sit and soak it all in. Take a stroll or ride your bike on the many paths that cut thru here. All year long there are wonderful events hosted in Loring Park. Some examples are beer festivals, Chipotle Cultivate music festival, Tour de Fat, Pride and now Holidazzle. I prefer to sit near the round fountain. Look for it! It reminds me of the white dandelions that blow away in the wind all summer.

Loring park gives a little bit of everything to everybody.
Short paved trails strewn throughout the park? Yes.
Basketball courts? Yes, one half court I believe.
Tennis courts? Yes, there are 4 courts, one of which has the backwall you can use to practice your strokes. The nets are decent but not the most optimal, and the ground contains cracks and divots that may provide your tennis balls with the occasional odd bounce.
Lake with ducks and other fowls? Yep.
Some type of sculpture? Yep, there is a dandelion water fountain.
Its not the cleanest park. Its not the most well tended of parks. Really, its just a park in an ideal location, that gives a little bit to everybody. What more do we deserve?

Very pretty area to wander during a nice day. Playground for the kids, and a swimming pool as well. We have been here for family portraits twice now, and haven’t been disappointed in the grounds.

Went here for a public movie showing and had a great time. Great park with a lot of events going on. Never too crowded and great bike and pedestrian paths.

A great park for first time dates, a stroll with your honey or just about anything you can do in a park. The little bridges are splendid and if you find yourself wanting to see some sculptures, there’s a nifty bridge that goes over the highway. There are also restaurants across the park to quench your thirst, and a beautiful fountain that looks like a dandelion.

This was a beautiful park! We were happy to have found it during our quick visit to Minneapolis. Parking was easy and free, and although it was a beautiful sunny weekend in the summer, it was not overly crowded. We enjoyed walking through the park with our dog. Very beautiful!

A wonderful park in a wonderful neighborhood. Has a dog run. Has various festivals during the summer (like gay pride weekend).

I lived across from the park for a year and I miss it. The lake looks gorgeous year-​round and there is an amazing view of downtown. The Walker and the Sculpture Garden are right around the corner. Great for picnics or jogs!

Right across the Sculpture Garden, you’ll find Loring Park. I’m guessing because of the time of year, it didn’t look nearly as pretty as it does in some of the pictures I’ve seen online, but there’s a scenic byway that is a series of bike and walking paths!

Loring Park is a fantastic urban green space that’s ideal for taking a nice stroll, playing horseshoe, picnicking with friends, and playing with your dog. Plus, throughout the summer, it seems like Loring Park hosts some awesome beer and art festivals.
Aesthetically, I dig all the flush trees and the two quaint small ponds in the middle. The bridges are a nice touch, too.
I do think parking in this area is a mess, and it doesn’t have a beach, but for those that live by, it’s a great park!

Pro tip: A lot of black people hang out here to play basketball, so the police give out an inordinate amount of tickets in the area. Just be sure to park legally, and NEVER let your meter/​plate/​tags/​dog park registration expire. They’ll get you.
Otherwise it is a pleasant place with a nice park and wading pool, a classic rec building, some bocce ball and other courts, in a nice urban setting. A great place to start off on a run or meet friends for a walk.
O and also — don’t use the port-​potties here — they’re really bad about maintaining them here, and they are open ²⁴⁄₇ so they see a little too much humanity, if ya know what I mean.

Came here after the pride parade during pride week. What a blast. It was really crowded with a beer garden, concerts and tons of booths. On calmer days I liked to stroll by the fountain and watch kids playing in the basketball/​tennis courts. Not sure about the convenience for parking since it typically is a pain in downtown Minneapolis. I only visit if I’ve dined at a restaurant nearby or if I was in the area because of an event.

This is my neighborhood park and I love it. Every run I do starts in this park and ends with a nice walk back through it. There are plenty of very friendly animals and a lot of places to sit for a rest.
In addition to wildlife there are lots of amenities: basketball and tennis courts, shuffle board, horseshoe pits, a playground, wading pool and dog park.
There are some less than desirable people who frequent the park however there are typically lot of other great people around and I feel safe walking/​running alone.

This review would be much higher if it weren’t for the drug dealers and aggressive homeless people lurking about on a consistent basis. Plenty of creeps.
I spent the majority of my life living in this part of the hoods-​er, –woods… So I’ve been here dozens of times.
It’s lovely, visually, and is located in the heart if an artsy area. The museum and sculpture park are pretty close, as is the basilica.
The squirrels here are so cute! One is albino and there is a solid black one. They love caramel corn from candy land down town. The pigeons love it, too. I guess even the animals here are panhandlers. ;)

Maybe because I went there from the Sculpture Park which was very interesting, I didn’t think that it was much to look at. Maybe it would have been a different story if I went on a better weather day.
One thing I can say is people must be treating all animals very nice here. Squirrels walk right up to you as if you are on one of them or something. Only if people take care of garbage like they do the wild life here! (I saw an empty vitamin water bottle on a bench only a few feet away from a garbage can!)
Overall, I can see why this is a park that many people love to come.

This park really is beautiful and a quick nature retreat from the city just a few blocks away. However, I feel much less safe at this park than any other park I have visited in the Twin Cities. On numerous occasions, I have been the verbal target of some of the park visitors who I suspect may call Loring Park their home. Of course Loring Park is certainly no Compton, but there are plenty of other parks that I can explore in the region without feeling edgy on a simple stroll through the grounds.

My wife was still asleep this morning so I explored Loring Park with the kids. Great urban park! Playscape, pond, foot paths, a lovely flower garden, a huge dandelion-​shaped fountain, lots of trees and grass, and a basketball court. My daughter even spotted a rabbit.
Across the highway is the sculpture garden, also worth a visit.

I love this park. It has a great combination of walking /​bike paths, activities and plenty of green to just chill. The activities include shuffle board, horseshoes, and tennis. I usually run around the park at lunch and I enjoy the scenery (grass/​trees).
Many times there will be some sort of event held there as well and there are a few places to eat and drink before or after your stroll. Parking can be tricky, but so can anywhere in Minneapolis. Plenty of shade to sit under some of those hot days and a cool fountain to see. Right across the street is the sculpture garden so it had a good location.

This is a beautiful park in Minneapolis. I brought my husband here on one of our first dates and we took some cheesy pictures by the fountain.
Have spent many a Pride festival here walking around enjoying the day, people watching, sitting by the pond and just enjoying the scenery.
Nice views from the park and a nice little walk over the bridge to the Sculpture Gardens.

One of the highlights of our trip to Minneapolis was Loring Park. Local friends met us at our hotel, and we wandered through the park on the way to the Walker, only to find it closed. Meaning we got to wander back through it. And then we went for a bike ride through it the next morning.
It’s gorgeous.
It’s got a little bit of everything: ponds, playgrounds, basketball courts, benches, trashcans, etc. That way you can cram in plenty of outdoor activity during the few months that it is bearable to be outside (as said by a Southerner who can’t imagine all that snow!).
And LOTS of wild life. We saw a HERD of squirrels. Seriously, what do they eat to get that big? Are they that big all year long, or just when they fatten up in the spring and summer in order to prepare for the winters? They were huge and there were at least a dozen of them chasing each other… We also saw red-​winged black birds.
The walking paths make it easy to meander and spend an extra few minutes with nature in the city. There are separate bike paths on the perimeter so that the avid cyclists don’t run over the pedestrians.
A great way to spend a few hours and get a little green in the city.