Irv Zeid Citizens Park Takeaway. The "Obstacle Course Park". Fun, neighborhood park on the way home from school. The obstacle course playground nets you a twenty-minute visit. Dedicated dog park. Pavilion and bathrooms for parties. Small park that is not Playground Complete. Parking is available on Old Bonhomme.
Table Of Contents: Experience | Playground | Amenities | Receipt
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday | 9 AM–8 PM |
| Tuesday | 9 AM–8 PM |
| Wednesday | 9 AM–8 PM |
| Thursday | 9 AM–8 PM |
| Friday | 9 AM–8 PM |
| Saturday | 9 AM–11 PM |
| Sunday | 9 AM–11 PM |
Irv Zeid is a small park off Old Bonhomme Road, close to the intersection of Olivette and University City and near the I170 overpass.
It's one of the smaller parks in Olivette that's good for a twenty to thirty-minute stop on a drive home from school.
The reason to come to the park if you don't own a dog, and even if you do, is for the obstacle course playground. When the Olivette renovated the park in 2022, they removed a tired, old playground with a super fun obstacle course. It's the perfect difficulty for an eight or nine-year-old, but little kids can still manage the first half.
The problem with the park is that there's not much else for kids to do without bringing a friend. After twenty or thirty minutes on the course, they're bored. So, this park is not Playground Complete.
I mentioned dogs because it's one of the few parks in the area with a dedicated dog park.
Parking on the street is always available, and a park-caliber bathroom can be found in the far corner.
Overall, it serves its purpose as a local neighborhood park but won't be drawing anyone from the big city to visit.
My sons call it the "Obstacle Course Park" because the main playground is, wait for it, an obstacle course.
The course feels like playing the ‘Floor is Lava,' but in the woods, without the lava.
A three-and-a-half-year-old can complete the first half of the course. My seven-year-old can complete the whole thing but may take a dive here or there along the way.
It starts with a climb up an incline hill, into a tree house, then across a bridge before going back down like a series of stumps.
At that point, you hop off the stops into a literal and figurative ropes course where you have to be able to move across spider nets of varying shapes and sizes.
My seven-year-old has definitely fallen through the spider net once or twice but lived to tell the tale.
The other apparatus at Irv Zeid Park is a throwback to pre-renovation times - a spinning top ride. This one is made of nets and requires a friend or adult to spin you around.
They had the old-school plastic one there in the past, and my older guy may or may not have gone flying off and face-planted four years ago.
Irv Zeid houses one of the few dedicated dog parks in the area. I don't own a dog, so I can't say I've used it before, but I've seen dogs there. It seems like an excellent place to let Fido run around a bit.
We've been to multiple birthday parties at Irv Zeid under the pavilion. The half-dozen picnic tables there provide more than enough seating for a 20-ish guest little kids' party.
The field between the dog park and the playground is maybe 100 yards. My son had intramural soccer practice there several times with two or three kindergarten to first-grade-size fields.
The bathrooms are "park caliber".
Parking is on the street. Parking has been fine even when we've had birthday parties and intramural soccer practice.
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