Kiwanis Park Runs on Two Calendars, and October Is When They Trade Places
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
Kiwanis Park has two seasons. From spring through summer, the busy part of the park is indoors, inside the Kiwanis Recreation Center at 6111 S. All-America Way, where the heated wave pool runs three-foot waves from April through August. From October on, the action moves outside to the lake, the soccer field lawns and the north play area. That north play area reopened on Sept. 23, 2026 after a full rebuild.
That's the thread running through the next three months. Most of what's happening at Kiwanis this fall happens outdoors: the pool winds down, the lake gets fish again, and the new playground gets its first cool-weather season. If you go to this park out of habit, the schedule you learned in July is now mostly wrong.
The city's pool page says it plainly: wave sessions are over for the season and will return on Saturdays in April. One exception is on the calendar. The Monster Splash Bash on Oct. 17, 2026 brings the waves back for a single day.
Calm water continues for a few more weeks. Lap swim uses seven lanes in the deep end, and the fall schedule runs through Oct. 31:
Fitness and Fun, the open swim in the zero-to-four-foot shallow end, runs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. through Oct. 31.
Then the pool closes. The city's page lists two start dates for the winter closure, Nov. 2 in one spot and Nov. 10 in another. Both versions end on Dec. 26. Plan on early November, and call the center at 480-350-5201 before you pack a swim bag for the first week of the month.
The batting range nearby has switched schedules too. Winter hours started Oct. 5: weekdays 5 to 9 p.m., Saturdays noon to 6 p.m. and Sundays 4 to 9 p.m. The range lists closures on Oct. 12, Oct. 17, Oct. 31 and Nov. 11.
As the pool closes, Kiwanis Lake picks back up. It's one of the Tempe waters in the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Community Fishing Program, and the program pauses stocking every summer, from June 25 to Sept. 15.
AZGFD's fall stocking schedule, revised Sept. 30, 2026, gives Kiwanis Lake a catfish stocking every other week.
| Week | What's scheduled at Kiwanis Lake |
|---|---|
| Sept. 21–25 | Catfish, first stocking since the summer pause |
| Oct. 5–9 | Catfish, this week |
| Oct. 19–23 | Catfish |
| Nov. 2–6 | Catfish |
| December | Trout, in two separate weeks |
The same spreadsheet says the dates aren't guaranteed. Weather, water quality, golden algae and supplier schedules can all move a stocking. Check the schedule again before an early-morning trip.
The license rule is what trips up families. Under AZGFD's 2025–26 regulations, anyone 10 or older needs a license to fish Community Fishing waters, and a General Fishing or combination license covers it. Kids under 10 fish free. The general license costs $37 for Arizona residents and $55 for nonresidents. A parent bringing an 11-year-old visiting relative needs to buy that license ahead of time.
The north play area is the clearest sign of the shift. Tempe tore out the old playground and rebuilt a larger one with all-new equipment and accessible rubber surfacing. The project also added a new large group ramada, new shade structures, more trees, irrigation upgrades, a new restroom and concession building, and better accessible parking and ramps.
The centerpiece is "Intersection Rock," a climbable sculpture by Tempe-based artist Bobby Zokaites. ABC15 reported that its shapes come from the local geography:
"Particularly, the geography of Papago [Park] is what the original drawings for this came out of."
The ground under the equipment draws on the Salt River. Zokaites told ABC15 the idea is "that each play piece throughout the playground is on its own little island." Kids will treat it as stepping stones whether anyone explains the design or not.
The Kiwanis rebuild is part of a five-year city cycle of roughly $60 million in park investment. Daley Park, at 1625 S. College Ave., reopened the night before with its own inclusive playground. Muralist Kyllan Maney designed flower-themed rubber surfacing there, and the park also got new lighting and fitness stations. If you live between the two parks, you now have two new playgrounds that weren't open in August.
The new ramada and restroom building matter because the fall event calendar uses this end of the park so heavily. Here's how the next six weeks line up:
The calendar shows the handoff clearly. The final week of catfish stocking runs into the lantern festival weekend, and both land in the same stretch when the indoor pool goes quiet. Some older event listings around the web still show the festival's 2025 dates, so use the organizer's current page when you buy tickets.
The outdoor half of Kiwanis Park will keep growing after this season, but two projects you may have heard about aren't open.
The first is a Dementia and Age-Friendly Park, a fenced "park within a park" planned for the former Tempe Sister Cities garden off All-America Way. The city calls it the first of its kind in the country. Plans call for wide, shaded walking paths, benches with arm and back rests, a ramada and sensory landscaping, all near parking and restrooms. Councilmembers Nikki Amberg and Doreen Garlid are leading the effort. Garlid was a caregiver for her father, who had dementia, and Amberg's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Local firm Architekton is donating the design, and the city is seeking grant money for permitting and construction. As of early September, AZFamily reported the project was still in design with no opening timeline set.
The second will change how people get to the park. The Kyrene–Roosevelt–Farmer Bike/Ped Improvements Project, between University Drive and Baseline Road, adds a two-way separated cycle track, buffered bike lanes, new sidewalks and a new pedestrian signal at the Western Canal and Baseline Road. Once finished, it will give riders a low-stress route linking Kiwanis Park, Clark Park and Downtown Tempe. The city's Sept. 18 update said crews were building a multi-use path at Dwight Park and that sidewalk work along Roosevelt Street, between Broadway Road and 13th Street, would start Sept. 21. Expect intermittent lane, sidewalk and crosswalk restrictions along the route. The target is fall 2026, and the city notes timelines can change. If it finishes on time, the trip from downtown to Movies in the Park becomes an easy bike ride, though maybe not until the series is over for the year.
In December the seasons flip back. Trout go into the lake and the wave pool reopens for winter sessions Dec. 27–30, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Our family has spent three generations learning which parks, paths and green spaces shape daily life in a community, and South Tempe's streets near Kiwanis Park are no different. If you want to talk through what's within walking or biking distance of the lake and the new north play area, Kristi Newman would be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a free consultation, and we'll start with the places you already use.
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