Loveland with kids: two sculpture parks, Boyd Lake, the nature center, the library and the fair

Loveland is a city of 76,378 at the 2020 census, and much of what it has for children is outdoors: two sculpture parks, a state park lake with a swim beach, a nature center with trails, and the county fairgrounds off I-25, with a children’s museum projected to open this fall. Here is what there is, with the hours and prices each operator publishes. For places the City runs itself, the source is the City’s site.

Benson Sculpture Garden

Benson Sculpture Garden at 2908 Aspen Drive, at 29th and Beech across from Loveland High School, has shown outdoor sculpture since 1985: 188 pieces on permanent display over 10 acres, with more than 15 in the newer section across 29th Street, added in 2015. It is free and open all year at any hour, and the paths are paved throughout, so a stroller or a scooter goes everywhere. The flush restrooms are open 7 am to 9 pm, parking is along Aspen Drive and the surrounding streets, and dogs are allowed on a leash. There are benches at the gazebo but, the arts council’s FAQ says, no picnic tables; the gazebo holds up to 50 and is reserved through the City’s Parks and Recreation office, 500 E. Third Street, Suite 200, weekdays 8 to 4:30, 970-962-2727. The Loveland High Plains Arts Council posts a map of the garden and an artist cross-reference guide to download, and books free tours for groups of ten or more at 970-663-2940.

The garden’s big weekend is the council’s Sculpture in the Park show and sale, on the second weekend of August, the one time admission is charged. In 2026 the public days were August 8 and 9, with tickets $10 at the gate and children 14 and under free. Dogs are not allowed that weekend, the Friday patron party admits no one under 21, babies in strollers included, and the south-west corner of the park closes for setup in the weeks around the show.

Chapungu Sculpture Park

Chapungu Sculpture Park, just east of the Promenade Shops at Centerra off US 34 and Centerra Parkway, opened in 2007: 82 large stone sculptures by Zimbabwean artists on 26 acres, which the park presents under eight themes, among them The Family, The Children, Village Life and Custom & Legend. The 1.5 miles of concrete and fine-gravel path follow the Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Canal and cross two bridges, and the whole park is accessible. Admission is free and it is open daily, 6 am to 10 pm. There is a public restroom in summer, a water fountain for dogs, and wildlife to look for: deer, geese, ducks, songbirds, raccoons, foxes and frogs. Centerra’s summer concert series runs from mid-July to mid-August, with the concerts on the park’s Great Lawn.

Boyd Lake State Park

Boyd Lake State Park, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife park at 3720 N County Road 11-C, covers 2,082 acres around a reservoir of 1,700 surface acres. The park is open 5 am to 10 pm; the visitor center, on the west side before the entrance station, opens Wednesday to Sunday 9 to 4 and closes on holidays (970-669-1739). A daily vehicle pass is $10 to $12 with Colorado plates and $15 to $17 with out-of-state plates, or $4 a person on foot or by bike; a family annual pass for one household is $120. When the gate is unstaffed, passes are sold at a self-service kiosk just past the entrance on the right.

The swim beach is open Memorial Day to Labor Day. Its pavilion has rinse showers, restrooms, a playground, picnic tables and the Fun Foods snack bar; float toys are allowed inside the buoyed swimming area, and glass, charcoal grills and pets are not allowed on the beach. A sand volleyball court has its net up over the same months; bring your own ball. CPW counts Colorado lakes as cold water, under 70 degrees, for most of the year and urges life jackets. Low water closed the lake to boating for the rest of 2026 and the marina is shut for the season, but swimming and hand-launched kayaks and paddleboards are still allowed.

Away from the water, paved and grassy trails run beside the beaches and under the cottonwoods: the 4.9-mile City Trail, the 1-mile Swim Beach Point trail and the 0.4-mile Grassland Trail, and the park’s paths join the City’s recreation trail at the north and south ends. There are 67 first-come picnic sites, most with grills, and 140 paved campsites. More than 200 bird species have been seen, great blue herons, white pelicans and great horned owls among them, and the park asks visitors to log the reptiles and amphibians they see, painted turtles and bull snakes among them, on iNaturalist. Fishing needs a Colorado license. In winter, ice anglers and hunters use the park; waterfowl hunting is allowed only by reservation in three designated areas marked with red posts and signs.

Lake Loveland

Lake Loveland, inside the city limits, is an early irrigation reservoir that now serves as a primary water supply for Greeley, and the recreation rights on it belong to the homeowners around it. The City has run a swim beach there in past summers; whether and when it opens is on the City’s site. Public fishing is allowed from the shoreline along Southshore Parkway and at North Lake Park.

High Plains Environmental Center

The High Plains Environmental Center at 2698 Bluestem Willow Drive has 3.5 miles of trail and demonstration gardens open daily from dawn to dusk, with trail maps out front. The Wild Zone is a volunteer-supported outdoor classroom meant for children’s own exploring and unstructured play. The Medicine Wheel Garden, its plants labeled with their common, scientific and Lakota names, is where the Thompson School District holds its third-grade powwow each year; the heirloom orchard grows apples, plums, cherries, peaches and blackberries; and Old Canal Park has a gazebo on an island between Equalizer Lake and a ditch abandoned in 1907. Dogs stay on a leash, there is no swimming or wading for people or dogs, no walking on the shoreline and no ice skating, and fishing is allowed only in the marked areas under state regulations. The visitor center, with a small museum and a classroom, is listed as open by appointment but is generally open 8 to 4 and may close when staff are off site.

The library

The Loveland Public Library has been in its building in the Civic Center east of downtown since September 1987, with a second-story renovation in 2010, according to the Friends of the Loveland Public Library. Its free Summer Learning Program has children and teens reading for prizes and joining programs through the summer; the Friends’ summary of the library’s 2024 figures counts more than 1,200 of them registered, and a completion rate above 44 percent, the highest yet. Inside the library, the Friends’ Chapter Two Bookstore sells children’s and teen books among the rest, staffed by volunteers Monday 11 to 3, Tuesday to Thursday 10 to 6, Friday 11 to 5 and Saturday 11 to 3; the money pays for summer reading and the library’s after-school programs for children and teens. The Friends’ fall used book sale is October 23 to 25, 2026, in the McKee 4-H building at The Ranch: Friday 3 to 7 for members, Saturday 10 to 4 for everyone, and Sunday 11 to 3 with books priced by the bag. The McKee lot is free even when Blue Arena parking is not; turn in from North Fairgrounds Avenue at the southernmost Arena Circle light. The library’s current children’s calendar is on its own site.

The Ranch and the county fair

The Ranch Events Complex at 5280 Arena Circle, off I-25, is home to Blue Arena’s hockey, monster trucks and family shows and to the annual Larimer County Fair & PRCA Rodeo. The fair is free to attend and to park. It has 4-H exhibitions and the junior livestock sale, a parade, a pancake breakfast, the ticketed rodeo in Blue Arena, fireworks on Friday and Saturday at 9 pm, and Carnival Americana, an independent operator with its own tickets and wristbands. Strollers are welcome. Animals may be petted only at the petting zoo, food is not allowed in the barns, and outside food and drink are not allowed on the grounds. A lost child is reported to fair staff, the police on the grounds or the Information Shed at Gate 2. The fair’s page also has 2026 cowboy and cowgirl coloring pages.

The Ranch’s family resources apply all year: two Mamava nursing pods, a small one just inside the south doors of the Pedersen Toyota building and a larger accessible one on the Blue Arena concourse at Section B, unlocked with the Mamava app; family restrooms with changing tables in Blue Arena, the Pedersen Toyota Center, the equestrian center and the 4-H buildings; mostly stroller-friendly paths; and a sensory room on the arena’s event level, free during public events.

Coming: a children’s museum

The Children’s Museum of Northern Colorado is moving into a 19,000-square-foot former outlet store at 5833 McWhinney Boulevard in Loveland Yards. In June 2026 BizWest reported that the $6.7 million museum was projected to open this fall, with no date yet set, for children 10 and under and their families. The plans include a life-size fiberglass cow named Milkshake that children can milk, a science gallery, a working mini-house, a play area for babies and toddlers, a water table showing how the region shares its water, a crop-growing exhibit, two classrooms and a fenced 2,500-square-foot outdoor area. The opening date will be on the museum’s site.

Downtown and the year’s calendar

The Loveland Downtown Partnership’s One Sweet Summer series fills The Foundry plaza with live music, festivals and kids’ days through the summer. Its Downtown Pumpkin Festival has families decorating pumpkins with Loveland artists, and its Festival of Lights switches on 4th Street’s holiday lighting with a tree lighting, carriage rides and Santa. NoCo Cat Cafe at 121 E. 5th Street admits children 6 and over, with an adult closely supervising anyone 6 to 12; admission is $12 a person, and it is open Tuesday to Sunday 11 to 6.

Each Valentine’s Day the Sweetheart City’s Valentine Re-Mailing Program, running since 1947, hand-stamps valentines sent through Loveland with a new verse and design each year, more than 160,000 cards on average; residents can enter the Loveland Chamber of Commerce contest that picks them. The Rialto’s family films, the monster trucks at Blue Arena and the rest of the season’s family events are on the events page as they are found; if you know of one that is missing, send it in.