E. Carroll Joyner park is a huge park with a community center up in Wake Forest. It’s a mile off of Capital Boulevard and is a whopping 117 acres of green space for your enjoyment!

The community center and playground located at Joyner park just opened recently in October 2019, so we ventured out for their inaugural Halloween event to take a look!

The Playground

The playground continues with the rustic, natural vibe of the park. The main structure is a big wooden tree house with two slides. The entrance to the tree house is a flat walkway so it accessible for all.

The tree house is surrounded by a wooden log and net climbing structure. There’s also a fun spinning feature and lots of natural rocks to climb on.

For the Younger Ones

In a separate area there is a smaller wooden house for the younger kids, plus the rubber surface has raised hills for climbing, running, and rolling. The main hill also has a slide built into the surface.

There’s a giant red bird and a green worm sticking out of the ground for the kids to climb and play on. It’s a beautiful space, although I think I would have designed the caterpillar a little differently. 😂

Community Center

I don’t have any pictures, but we were able to go into the community center building and it is very nice! It features a walking track, gymnasium for basketball, volleyball and pickleball, multi-purpose rooms, dance studio and kitchen.

Unfortunately, to access the Joyner Park community center amenities (and Flaherty Park Community Center) you must obtain a rec card. New as of October 2019, this card is free for Wake Forest residents, but if you live outside the Wake Forest town limits and do not pay Wake Forest property taxes you must pay a fee. If you don’t have the rec card you can pay a one time drop in fee. Find out more information here. Preschool open play is currently on Tuesdays from 9am-12pm.

Restored Farm Buildings

The playground is only one aspect of Joyner park. There are 3 miles of trails that lead you through a pecan grove, historic and restored farm buildings, a performance garden, and an amphitheater. There’s also a small pond that you can fish at!

Before the playground was built, we visited this park many times just for the green space and to explore the historic sites. The kids had fun running through the buildings, and once we even setup cones in the grass for a little bit of “soccer practice”. Let’s be honest, it was really just to give the kids a boundary so we wouldn’t have to chase them down! 😉

The green space is also perfect for hosting field games or an Easter egg hunt, both of which we have done at this park!

While you’re out that way check out the Taylor Street Park playground and splash pad!