BRUSH PRAIRIE — Alderbrook Park has so much of everything a playful kid could want that its general manager confessed his favorite aspect of the 63-acre spread is what it fails to provide: electronic-device access.
There’s no Wi-Fi signal and scant cell reception at best, Chris Bryden reported. When children and their parents ask how to get online while visiting the park, Bryden smiles and shrugs and asks whether they meant the line for pink lemonade.
Pink lemonade drinking fountains, paddle boats in the pond and inflatable bouncy houses are about as hi-tech as it gets up here in the hills east of Brush Prairie and Hockinson. Bryden is OK with that.
“This is where you go to unplug and connect with your family and friends, not stare at your phone,” he said.
If You Go
What: Final “public days” for 2019 at Alderbrook Park.
When: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 (not Aug. 31); Sept. 4-6.
Where: Alderbrook Park, 24414 N.E. Westerholm Road, Brush Prairie.
Admission before 4 p.m.: $10, $6 for ages 4-14, free for 3 and under.
Admission after 4 p.m.: $5, $3.
On the web: AlderbrookParkEvents.com
If you must stare, try the surrounding greenery and the nearly endless opportunities for fun: the grounded pirate ship, the petting zoo, the Alderbrook Express train, the Oregon Trail mini-golf course, the music stage that doubles as a basketball court, the mirror pond and swimming pool — all centered around a sweeping carpet of lawn.
Equipment is always available for organized field games such as softball, volleyball and tug-of-war. Or, keep it casual with mellow diversions such as bean bag toss, horseshoes and Bingo.
That’s all in keeping with Bryden’s mission to revive old-school amusements at Alderbrook, he said. He hopes to restore the big wooden maze that once was a main attraction here, and classic playground animals on springs for the littlest children to ride.
Alderbrook opened as a private park in the 1960s. It even sported a five-star restaurant overlooking the headwaters of Salmon Creek before that was destroyed by fire in the late 1970s. Business dropped off and ownership changed hands in recent years, and Bryden was brought aboard in 2015 to keep the place hopping with corporate retreats and weddings — as well as summer open-to-the-public days, Wednesday movie nights and Friday car cruise-ins. The annual Oktoberfest, with hundreds of vendors expected, is set for Sept. 28.
Less than half of the 63-acre property has been developed with buildings and amenities, Bryden said. The rest is hilly forest with hiking trails. That’s another old-school thing you can do at Alderbrook: wander the woods in peace.
Those woods are also where Bryden hopes to expand Alderbrook’s four-hole disc golf course to a standard 18 holes. He’s sniffing around for a course designer, he said, and believes a full-size disc golf course snaking through the trees would be a great new attraction.
The sprawling size of the place is one reason why Bryden urges parents not to let their children completely off-leash. Alderbrook may feel like a protected sanctuary, but it’s still got countless nooks and crannies where little people can get lost.
“I don’t like posting a lot of NOs and a lot of rules,” Bryden said, “but the main rule is: Supervise your children at all times.”
Magical ground
Here’s an old-school youngster for you: 13-year-old Isla Gaston reported that the best things about Alderbrook are paddle boating and catching salamanders. Gaston was here for a return visit on a recent Thursday morning with mother, grandfather and a gaggle more moms and kids from Camas.
“Everything we want is right here,” said Isla’s mother, Louise Gaston. “It’s perfect. It’s heaven. We should do this every week.”
It depends on the weather, Bryden said, but attendance on any given summer day can number in the hundreds or even the thousands. In addition to families, frequent arrivals on public days are buses from summer recreation programs, Boys & Girls Clubs and child-care facilities.
When they get a little older, Bryden said, some of those kids wind up getting their first summer jobs here. Alderbrook employs as many as 100 people at its peak, he said.
“I love working with the kids,” he said, “helping them develop people skills, life skills, math skills” such as making change from the till in the cafe. That has a full menu, complete with barbecue, sandwiches and local beers. There’s plenty of carnival-style food snacks available for purchase, too. Picnics are welcome, but never barbecues and glass bottles.
Free pink lemonade really is on tap in three of the drinking fountains here. And how exactly does that work?
“You’re asking me to reveal my secrets,” Bryden said. “We just say it comes from the magical ground.”
