South Shore Park: Wellington’s Oldest Park Gets A Much-Needed Upgrade
Story by Mike May | Photos courtesy the Village of Wellington
Wellington Community Park has experienced a major physical transformation and a name change. It is now called South Shore Park. Located at 3401 South Shore Blvd., the property’s life as a park dates back to 1986. Developed by the Acme Improvement District and Palm Beach County a decade before incorporation, it was the first facility to offer organized recreational programs to young residents of the fledgling Wellington community.
For years, the park served as the original home of the Wellington Boys & Girls Club, as well as one of the main venues for organized youth baseball practices and games in Wellington. For many years, the property was the recreational epicenter of life in Wellington for young families and their athletically inclined children.
In 2013, the Boys & Girls Club moved to a new location on Wellington Trace. As for all those evening baseball practices and games, they have moved to other locations in the Village of Wellington, such as the fields at Wellington’s Village Park, Tiger Shark Cove Park and Olympia Park.
While there were still fields at the old Community Park, they were not in the best of shape and sorely in need of an upgrade.
In recent years, the newly formed Wellington Sports Academy was slated to be built at Community Park, but plans changed, and it’s now nearing completion near the southern entrance to Wellington’s Village Park, off 120th Avenue South.
Instead, Wellington decided to give the fields a much-needed upgrade, and in June, the village celebrated the grand re-opening of South Shore Park. On that day, there were many recreational activities available for children to do and enjoy that showcased the variety of events and activities that can and will be staged at South Shore Park in the near future.
According to Wellington Parks & Recreation Director Eric Juckett, the grand re-opening was popular, fun-filled and well-attended.
“We had our entire summer camp attend, along with various other Wellington staff, the Wellington Village Council and other dignitaries,” Juckett said. “I would say about 300 people attended.”
The new South Shore Park — which has two entrances and exits off South Shore Blvd. — has more than seven acres of open-play multipurpose fields, two practice baseball fields, two lighted basketball courts, a new restroom building and plenty of open green space, which is perfect for family fun. At the moment, both baseball fields have two batting practice cages situated around their respective home plates.
The parking lot has also been upgraded and resurfaced to make the park more accessible to visitors and their vehicles. The parking lot has four spaces for handicapped drivers and two slots for golf carts, which is fitting for Wellington.
South Shore Park is currently open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to sunset, though the two full-court basketball courts have lights and are open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
The athletic fields and basketball courts are currently open for use, but there are no organized teams playing on the grass fields on a regular basis.
“We have no organized teams playing here,” Juckett said. “This is an open-play facility.”
From a safety perspective, it’s nice to know that Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Station Number 27 is located immediately adjacent to the park, just in case there’s an emergency on-site.
The newly renovated South Shore Park is a great example of Wellington’s ongoing commitment to creating safe and family-friendly venues for its residents to enjoy and be physically active.
Just as the original Wellington Community Park was the backdrop for great memories for young families in the early days, the newly named and renovated South Shore Park will serve the same purpose for Wellington’s current and future families and their children.
Learn more about Wellington park facilities at www.wellingtonfl.gov/parks.
