Benner Park

Equipment by Henderson.

Surface: wood chips.

This is the first of two playgrounds that you can easily (as we did) hit up in the same afternoon. And since they have such different strengths, they make a good pair.

Benner Park and Viewmount Park are not even 100 metres apart, and if the Allen Expressway hadn’t been built they would likely be one park. But the Allen was built (partially) so now these two complementary parks sit on either side of the highway, with the entrance to Glencairn subway station as the midpoint of the distance between them.

Benner’s advantages over its neighbour are that the equipment is newer and its setting is wonderfully cozy.

Rejuvenated in 2023, the Benner Park playground features some colourful equipment by Henderson, including a two-level climber whose second level can be accessed the easy way – the stairs – or the hard way: a maze of horizontal ropes that jut out from the first level before jutting back in at the second level. This little feature is a cool one, because it makes helicoptering over a child who wants to climb it very difficult. No offense to any helicopters out there, but when kids are given the space to climb things by themselves, the confidence boost is huge.

There’s also a nice musical element: a set of vertical tubular bells with two mallets tethered to the ground, which can be used (with some difficulty) by one person or (as I expect is the goal) collaboratively.

The setting adds greatly to this park’s charm. For a park right next to a highway, it’s incredibly serene. The park owes its serenity to the large number of mature trees on either side of its narrow north-south shape. The trees guarantee at least partial shade for almost all times of day, and provide some great spots for picnicking or hiding-and-seeking.

This park loses out to Viewmount a bit if you’re driving; while Viewmount has a parking lot, at Benner you’ll be hunting for a spot on the street, and the two streets closest to the park – Benner and Stayner – bewilderingly don’t allow street parking.

The lack of bathrooms, a sandbox, or any water elements is frustrating (especially since none of these exist at Viewmount Park across the way either) but Viewmount and Benner are a nice duo if you find yourself in the neighbourhood.