MLive says: “Sparks Foundation County Park is well known by local residents, but they mostly call it a different name -- Cascades Park. Here, you'll find an 18-hole golf course and a manor house available for special events, along with more typical park offerings. In the winter, kids love to sled here and during the summer, they play basketball or baseball. Of course, the most intriguing part of the park is Cascade Falls, a colorfully lit, choreographed set of falls. The attraction is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Check the website for more info.”
June 18, 2021
I’ve been really into 3-day weekends this summer, so I took yet another Friday off of work for another round of county visits. Pulling into Cascades Park was not unlike visiting most large city parks: tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, a splash pad…and oh yeah, a GIANT musical fountain.
I parked my car and began strolling with my camera, deciding to first check out the walking path that circumnavigates the majority of the park. This trail brought me lots of fun places: a playground with animal statues, a wetland, a boardwalk, and eventually to the magical musical fountain. I was probably at the park a total of one hour - I didn’t stick around for the nighttime show at the fountain. However, I will comment that there is an excellent variety of birds in this park due to it being centered around a wetland system! Waterfowl, swallows, woodpeckers, orioles, blackbirds, and jays were abundant. I spotted a variety of duck I’ve never seen before, and what appeared to be a northern flicker!
The fountain itself is a rather impressive structure: I would have liked to walk up to the top, but the stairways on both sides were closed when I visited. I admired it from the bottom and imagined what a choreographed musical light-up fountain show must be like (maybe one day I‘ll return and find out).
While this was a very pretty park indeed, there wasn’t much else for me to do after exploring the walking path and enjoying the fountain for a while. I checked Jackson County off my list and headed to my next stop of the weekend.