"Guide to Puget Sound's Fields and Playgrounds"
Starbucks Neighborhood Parks Program
Starbucks, $5.95
Starbucks offers park connoisseurs a compilation of playgrounds — many benefiting from its Starbucks Neighborhood Parks Program — in this short guide covering King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
Covering 100 parks, from destination parks such as Seattle's Discovery Park to neighborhood gems such as Kirkland's Crestwoods Park, the guide isn't comprehensive. Instead, it relies on parks directors to recommend the best ball fields, tennis and basketball courts, skate parks and playgrounds in their communities.
Each listing gives a punchy description of the park's attractions, plus icons providing a heads-up on everything from restrooms to picnic tables to parking to wheelchair accessibility. The affectionate write-ups obviously reflect local knowledge: Magnolia Playground, for example, "is particularly happening on summer Saturday mornings when the Magnolia Farmers' Market sets up shop in the adjacent parking lot."
With parks organized alphabetically by county, the guide's main drawback is its lack of directions or detailed maps. The contents page divides parks by city, but with 16 parks in Seattle, for example, it's hard to know which ones might be nearby without thumbing through all 16 listings.
The marketing component of the $5.95 booklet ($2 from each sale goes toward its park funding) isn't too intrusive, but it's worth noting that the prominent prize-ribbon icons on individual parks designate them as grant recipients, not "best" in category.
Stephanie Dunnewind,
Seattle Times staff reporter
