Moving to Parker, Colorado
Things to Do in Parker
Your first weekends, sorted: the park with a fountain in summer and an ice trail in winter, the creek trail, the reservoir staircase, the theater on Mainstreet, where to eat, and the events that come around every year. Photos are ours.
By Connor Tien, DougCo Social · Updated September 2026
I have eaten my way through a sold-out Taste of Parker, walked the Wine Walk with a collectible glass, and lost a Sunday morning to the farmers market on Mainstreet, which is how these photos happened. This is the list I give people who just moved here: the outdoor stuff first, because that is the reason most people came, then downtown, then where to eat, then the calendar. Every hour and address was checked with the Town, Parker Rec, Douglas County or the organizer on September 29, 2026.
Get Outside
Parker Rec's parks and trails, and the reservoir Douglas County opened up.
Rueter-Hess Reservoir and the Incline
Parker Water finished the reservoir in 2012: 75,000 acre-feet, 1,170 acres, a dam 185 feet above bedrock. Douglas County runs the recreation. The Incline Challenge is 132 steps and 232 feet of gain on a loop just over a mile, open daily from sunrise to sunset, no reservation; park off Heirloom Parkway at the water purification facility. The reservoir itself (9343 Double Angel Road) opens Fridays through Mondays, 8am to 6pm in the warm months, for fishing and paddle days.
Discovery Park
Small (1.4 acres, per Parker Rec) and the center of everything: a play fountain from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, 10am to 10pm, the ice trail with fire pits all winter, a stage for the free summer concerts, and the Ball and Jacks sculpture. Opened fall 2016.
O'Brien Park and H2O'Brien Pool
The gazebo park at the corner of Parker Road and Mainstreet: a lighted softball field, a playground updated in 2023, the Kieffer's Crossing tunnel, and the Town's outdoor pool with two 182-foot slides, a zero-depth play structure and a lap pool. The Mayor's Holiday Lighting and Fall Fest happen here.
Cherry Creek Regional Trail
A 10-foot concrete path with an unpaved equestrian trail beside it, Norton Farms Open Space to Stroh Ranch Park. Trailhead parking and restrooms at McCabe Meadows, Bar CCC Park and Cottonwood Trailhead Park.
Salisbury Regional Park
Youth ballfields sponsored by the Rockies, a lighted equestrian arena with a grandstand, a modern playground, grills, and access to the Cherry Creek Trail. Parker Rec says an expansion is in the planning stages.
Recreation Center and Fieldhouse
The Rec Center has an indoor pool, gym, weight room and classes, open 5am to 10pm weekdays. The 100,000-square-foot Fieldhouse adds an indoor turf field, batting cages, a climbing wall and an elevated track.
Local tip: Golf lives on the south side: The Pinery Country Club and The Club at Pradera are private sister clubs under Arcis Golf, and Black Bear Golf Club is on Canterberry Parkway. The golf guide has all three.
Downtown
Mainstreet: the PACE Center, The Schoolhouse, the library, the market, and the blocks that keep turning over.
Mainstreet on a market Sunday
The LOCAL Colorado runs the Parker Farmers Market every Sunday from Mother's Day through Halloween, and the street closes for it, which is why a produce run turns into a block party under the festoon lights. It skips Parker Days weekend. Bring a bag and go early; the good bread goes.
All the county markets →The PACE Center (20000 Pikes Peak Avenue) is the anchor, and it is the Town's own: Parker Arts is the Town of Parker Cultural Department, the Mainstage Theater opened in October 2011 with 500 seats (534 with the orchestra pit), and the building also holds an art gallery and an event room. Two blocks down, The Schoolhouse (19650 Mainstreet) is the 1915 Parker Consolidated Schoolhouse, restored with three State Historical Fund grants and reopened as a second theater in February 2018. The Discovery Park stage next to the library hosts the free concert series in summer.
The shops turn over, which is half the fun of covering them. This year we wrote up Rugby Scott, the butcher shop that opened at 19590 Mainstreet, Goods & Grace and The Local at Parker for gifts and Colorado-made pantry stuff, and the wave of tenants at the East Main development across from the PACE Center, including a Cerebral Brewing taproom. Mainstreet is booming is the running tally, and what's being built tracks the projects changing it.
Eat and Drink
Our best-of guides are ranked from the directory and refreshed; these are the ones a newcomer asks for first.
JP Cocina & Cantina
The old Wild Goose Saloon, reborn. We were there for the ribbon cutting; the ribeye tacos and the street corn are the order.
Downhill Brewing
The brewery by the Fieldhouse. The pizza in the photo did not survive the night.
Taste of Parker, in photos
Yelp's first Taste of Parker sold out: 29 local food and drink vendors in one lot, a food drive for the Parker Task Force. The story has the full vendor list.
Local tip: Want to meet people while you eat? Our Dinner Club in Parker seats newcomers and locals together at a rotating local restaurant. It is the fastest way I know to make a town of 66,000 feel small.
With Kids
Where the strollers and the middle schoolers both end up.
Emagine Parker
The luxury theater that took over the old AMC at Twenty Mile. Our opening story has the photos and the prices.
Parker Fieldhouse
Indoor turf, batting cages, gyms, a climbing wall and an elevated track, open 7am to 11pm on weekdays. The winter answer to a rained-out practice.
Parker Arts classes and camps
The Town's cultural department runs arts, dance, music, theater, culinary and science classes and school-break camps out of the PACE Center and The Schoolhouse.
Add the Discovery Park fountain and H2O'Brien Pool in summer, the ice trail and its fire pits in winter, the library's programs at 20105 E Mainstreet, and the Sunday market. Our countywide things to do with kids guide and the family events calendar keep it current.
The Parker Year
The events that come back every year, with the 2026 dates the Town and the organizers published.
Local tip: For the day-trip list (Castlewood Canyon, the rest of the county), the Douglas County things-to-do hub is the next page to read. For this weekend, it is This Weekend.
FAQ
Douglas County says the Incline Challenge has 132 steps and 232 feet of elevation gain, on the Rosie Rueter Trail loop that is just over a mile from the parking area. It is open daily from sunrise to sunset, no reservation needed; park at the base by turning west off Heirloom Parkway at the Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility.
Opening day for the 2026-27 season is Friday, November 27, 2026, and the trail runs through Sunday, February 28, 2027 at Discovery Park, 20115 E Mainstreet. Standard hours are 5pm to 9pm on weekdays, 11am to 9pm Saturdays and 11am to 7pm Sundays, with extended hours over winter break. Daily admission is $10 for residents and $11 for non-residents (ages 10 to 61); skate rental is $4.
The 2026 festival ran June 11 to 14, Thursday through Sunday, in downtown Parker; it was the 50th annual. The Parker Chamber Foundation puts it on, admission is free, and the organizer lists four music stages, more than 200 marketplace booths, 25-plus food vendors and more than 50 carnival rides. Watch parkerdaysfestival.com for the 2027 dates.
Downtown Parker on Mainstreet, every Sunday from 8am to 1pm, Mother's Day (May 10 in 2026) through Halloween, run by the LOCAL Colorado with more than 100 vendors. It skips Parker Days weekend. The street closes for it, which is why it feels like a block party.
Parker Parks and Recreation lists a 1.4-acre park next to the library at 20115 E Mainstreet with a summer play fountain (the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 10am to 10pm), a winter ice trail with fire pits, a performance stage at the north end that hosts the free Discovery Park Concert Series, and the Ball and Jacks sculpture. Parker Arts opened it in the fall of 2016.
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More Parker Guides
Moving to Parker
Cost of living from the Census, the 8 percent sales tax, who your water, power, gas and trash providers are, the E-470 commute and what a year at 5,900 feet feels like.
Parker Neighborhoods
Downtown, Stonegate, The Pinery, Pradera, Canterberry Crossing, Stroh Ranch, Meridian Village, Cottonwood and more: who runs each one, which water district you are in, the pools and the schools.
Parker Schools
The three DCSD feeders (Chaparral, Legend, Ponderosa), how the district assigns a neighborhood school, how open enrollment works, and all nine charters in town with addresses.
New Resident Checklist
Driver license in 30 days, plates in 90, emissions, voter registration, DougCoAlert, water, power, gas, trash, the library card and the local stuff, in order.
Sources
Acreage, hours, admission and addresses are Parker Parks and Recreation's, Douglas County's and Parker Arts'; event dates are the Town's and the organizers'; everything first-hand is linked to the story we wrote after going. Read on September 29, 2026.
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Discovery Park: parkerrec.com/1948/Discovery-Park
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Parker Ice Trail: parkerrec.com/1954/Parker-Ice-Trail
- Parker Parks and Recreation, O'Brien Park: parkerrec.com/254/OBrien-Park
- Parker Parks and Recreation, H2O'Brien Pool: parkerrec.com/234/H2OBrien-Pool
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Salisbury Regional Park: parkerrec.com/256/Salisbury-Regional-Park
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Cherry Creek Regional Trail: parkerrec.com/315/Cherry-Creek-Regional-Trail
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Parker Recreation Center: parkerrec.com/384/Parker-Recreation-Center
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Parker Fieldhouse: parkerrec.com/348/Parker-Fieldhouse
- Douglas County, Rueter-Hess Recreation: douglasco.gov/rueter-hess-recreation/
- Douglas County, Rueter-Hess Incline Trail: douglasco.gov/rueter-hess-recreation/incline-trail/
- Parker Water and Sanitation District, Rueter-Hess Reservoir: pwsd.org/2193/Rueter-Hess-Reservoir
- Parker Arts, PACE Center: parkerarts.org/event-venues/pace-center
- Parker Arts, Our Story (history and dates): parkerarts.org/our-story/
- Town of Parker, Spring/Summer Events 2026: parkerco.gov/2418/SpringSummer-Events
- Town of Parker, Community Events: parkerco.gov/82/Community-Events
- Town of Parker, Parker Fall Fest: parkerco.gov/2326/Parker-Fall-Fest
- Town of Parker, Mayor's Holiday Lighting: parkerco.gov/172/Mayors-Holiday-Lighting
- Town of Parker, Hometown Holiday Experience: parkerco.gov/2269/Hometown-Holidays
- Parker Days Festival: parkerdaysfestival.com/
- Parker Chamber of Commerce, Wine Walks: parkerchamber.com/wine-walks/
- The LOCAL Colorado, Parker Farmers Market: thelocalcolorado.com/parker-farmers-market/
- Downtown Parker, annual events: downtownparker.com/
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