If you’re looking for more ways — and places — to get outside this spring, Great Parks of Hamilton County is offering an incentive: Free Entry Days.
Free Entry Days are just what they sound like: You don’t have to pay a for a motor vehicle permit (basically a parking pass) to enter any Great Parks park, which means you can access “17,700 acres of natural habitat, nearly 80 miles of trails, lakes and river access, playgrounds, dog parks, golf courses and much more” for free.
“For the past eight years, Great Parks has hosted Free Entry Days as a special thank you to all Hamilton County residents for their continued support of their parks,” Great Parks Public Engagement Coordinator Kimberly Whitton tells CityBeat. “We want families to enjoy all that the parks have to offer without the worries of an entrance fee. We also want guests to celebrate significant events with us such as Earth Day, National Trails Day and National Public Lands Day.”
Here are 2021’s Free Entry Days:
- Thursday, April 22 (Earth Day)
- Saturday, May 1
- Saturday, May 15 (Kids to Parks Day)
- Tuesday, June 1
- Saturday, June 5 (National Trails Day)
- Thursday, July 1
- Saturday, July 17 (Great Parks’ 91st anniversary)
- Sunday, Aug. 1
- Wednesday, Sept. 1
- Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25 and 26 (Great Outdoors Weekend; National Public Lands Day)
- Friday, Oct. 1
All 21 Great Parks parks are open dawn-to-dusk daily and participate in Free Entry Days. Great Parks parks include Lake Isabella, Winton Woods, Miami Whitewater Forest, Sharon Woods, Little Miami Golf Course and more. Find a park near you at greatparks.org/parks.
Great Parks also offers free entry any day for disabled veterans, former prisoners of war and Medal of Honor recipients, as well as those Hamilton County residents with EBT (food assistance) cards.
Annual Motor Vehicle Permits are typically $10 per resident and $16 for those who reside outside of Hamilton County. Permit funds go to help maintain the parks.
For more information, visit greatparks.org.
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2021.