Brackett Park and Recreation Center in Minneapolis, MN 55406

This 12-acre gem of a park nestled in the quiet, residential Longfellow neighborhood offers something for everyone in the family, and is well-worth seeking out.

The innovative playground puts a new spin - literally! - on those all-too-familiar modular play structures, with a tall, colorful roped climbing apparatus, challenging spinning and bouncing ride-ons, and slides and tunnels that would look right at home at the Walker Art Center. The sections for older and younger children are separated by a picnic area with kid-sized tables and several fixed and rocking park benches from which parents can keep an eye on kids on either side - or both at once! Families can also picnic on the grass.

Baseball, softball, soccer, hockey, and tennis players will find fields to use, and tiny tots can cool off in the summer in a circular zero-depth-entry wading pool. A skateboard park, opened in June 2006, gives teens a corner of the park to call their own.

The Recreation Center, a beautiful bright-red barn-style building, houses rooms that can be rented for parties, a full kitchen, and lots of space for the Rec Plus, sports, and enrichment programming offered here through the Minneapolis parks department.