1. A Big Footprint for a Small City
Edmonds maintains a mile of shoreline and 47 park and open space sites, together totaling over 265 acres of parks and open space, nearly all managed pesticide-free. That includes playgrounds at 14 parks, active fields for team sports, a year-round outdoor swimming pool surrounded by forest and more than 13 miles of walking paths and trails threading through the city. The Department of Parks & Recreation, headquartered at the nearly 100-year-old Frances Anderson Center on Main Street, also runs the city's recreation programming and supports many of the community’s special events.
2. Old-Growth History Underfoot at Southwest County Park
Considered a partnership property, Southwest County Park is owned and maintained by Snohomish County and its history is visible underfoot. At 120 acres, it's the largest single parcel of open space within Edmonds city limits, and the site's logging past is still visible in buckboard notches on old-growth stumps. Overgrown logging skid roads are now hikers' footpaths. Since 1992, it's been designated a Passive/Sensitive Wildlife Preserve, with bikes prohibited, protecting Perrinville Creek, which is home to trout and salmon. The all-volunteer Edmonds Ivy League has maintained trails and removed invasive plants there every Saturday since 2018.
3. A State First on the Waterfront
The Edmonds Fishing Pier, opened in 1979, was the first saltwater public fishing pier in Washington State. Nearly five decades later, it remains the only legal fishing and shellfish-harvest spot along that stretch of Edmonds shoreline. It is also known as one of the most popular places to jig for squid in the region. The pier brings people of all walks of life together with common interests from fishing, crabbing, squidding, bird-watching, or just taking in the view, and it's available year-round.
4. A Volunteer-Powered Underwater Dive Park
Since 1970, the nationally recognized Edmonds Underwater Dive Park, adjacent to and supported by Brackett’s Landing North Park, has drawn more than 25,000 diver visits and counting, making it one of the most popular dive destinations in the Pacific Northwest. One devoted volunteer, Bruce Higgins, has personally dived nearly every weekend since 1991 to help maintain its 2.5 miles of underwater guide ropes and buoy markers. The Brackett's Landing Shoreline Sanctuary remains fully closed to any harvest, protecting the marine life preserve that scuba divers know and love.
5. An Outdoor Gallery, Too
The City of Edmonds Public Art Collection includes more than 65 outdoor installations permanently sited downtown and throughout the city, including waterfront sculptures, building murals, whimsical figures atop downtown's flower basket poles, and the recently installed 14’ tall sculpture adjacent to the ferry lanes. New pieces, murals, and sculptures continue to be added regularly, making Edmonds' parks and public spaces as much an art walk as a green retreat.
Whether you're wandering Southwest County Park's old skid roads, casting a crab ring off the pier, diving to see some of the largest lingcod fish in Puget Sound, or photographing a new mural downtown, Edmonds parks offer something worth exploring all season long. As always, questions about park facilities, programs, or upcoming projects are welcome anytime.