Tom Lee Park Playground

Tom Lee Park has become one of my favorite places to visit with family. The playground is amazing — there are tons of slides, swings, climbing structures, and athletic activities to keep kids of all ages entertained. There’s even a basketball area and a mini golf course, so there’s always something fun to do. The park itself is beautiful and very spacious, making it easy to spend hours enjoying the river views, walking around, or relaxing at the picnic tables. Restrooms are available and well-kept, and the 1-hour free parking is a nice bonus. One thing to keep in mind: the park is sometimes closed for special events. If you’re driving from farther away, especially 30 minutes or more from the Riverfront, it’s a good idea to check the schedule before you come. Overall, it’s a perfect place for families to play, explore, and enjoy the outdoors. Highly recommended!

What a gorgeous little pocket of memphis! Incredible basketball court, picnic areas, huge slides and sculptural playground equipment.

This is an incredible park. The equipment and facilities are top notch, clean, and well-maintained. A fun and safe place for all!

What’s the point of the basketball court if it’s never open

Woah, impressive. This is a giant epic playground that also includes free equipment rental, basketball courts, track, volleyball area, restrooms, lockers, waterfront walking trail, picnic tables, numerous seating areas, hammocks, and two gym areas (RiverFit) for adults. I wish we had a playground like this back home! Memphis doesn't have much, but this playground area makes up for their lack in activities. It gets pretty packed with families, but no one is on top of each other (this statement does not include the playing kids). You and your kids can for sure meet new friends here!

Check out their website to find out more about Tom Lee. https://www.tomleepark.org/tom-lee Quality/Quantity - What an interesting park, so much art. See pictures. 31 acres. Playgrounds by the river. First Horizon River Lounge. Visionary point, closed when we walked by. Covered outdoor basketball courts. Hammock Grove. Ben & Jerry (closed when we walked by). Outdoor restrooms, and better yet, with outdoor hand washing stations, see pictures. Fitness zone. Putting green. 100k lawn. Picnic tables. Atmosphere - See above. Open 7 days a week from 6am to 10pm; welcome center and courts open from 8am to 8pm. Events, see website. Service - Self service. Price - Free. Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 1991. My only suggestion is MORE shade. Cool History: https://www.tomleepark.org/park-history

Attended Riverbeat 2025! The venue itself is beautiful. Very clean, beautiful to look at, lots of security, we felt very safe. Plenty of places to sit as you walk the garden. Shade, the river to look at...what else could you ask for, right? Don't limit this place to just attending events! It's beautiful as a park!

An incredible park whose amenities are as stunning as the views of the Mississippi River. A must-see.

Breathtakingly beautiful! My husband and I were amazed at the remarkable transformation. So sophisticated to see diverse groups experiencing park life "together". I felt like I was in a big city! Can't wait to show all my friends. What a lovely place to spend the day!

The new Tom Lee Park is an awesome place to go with the family. I highly recommend a visit!

This is a world-class park in Downtown Memphis. Well worth a visit. There are basketball courts (with free ball check-out), a really cool playground, winding walking trails and beautiful landscaping -- all backed by the Mississippi River. Beautiful public art and a nice history lesson about a Black man, Tom Lee, who couldn't swim but saved a bunch of white people when their boat capsized in the 1920s. So glad this is in Memphis, where we've never really capitalized on our riverfront. My photos are from the park's first homeschool day. I took them as part of my work with this great organization.

This park was a nice stop before we went to the airport. There is a nice trail and some nice art/sculptures to look at as you walk around. In the middle there is a building/event area where you can see the progress of the park and what the future plans of the park are. During our time in Memphis we seen a lot of people here during all times of the day. It was beautiful to see a diverse group of people at the park enjoying the day/evening.

May is the best month to visit the city of Memphis. This year instead of hosting another Country, we are celebrating Memphis. A month long celebration for the Bicentennial for Memphis, TN. Yes, my city is 200 years old & the River Run 5k is an event held at this beautiful park.

I was here for the 2018 Beale Street Music Festival a couple weeks ago. This park is huge and sits right along the river. It's a very nice park and was the perfect venue for the three different large stages of the festival. The backdrop of the sunset on the water was very picturesque.

Tom Lee Park is the most familiar Memphis Park, because of its association with the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the signature event of the Memphis in May International Festival. It was named after Tom Lee, an African-American riverworker, who saved the lives of 32 passengers of the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman in 1925. The new bronze sculpture is amazingly lifelike. 32 footlights come on @ Sunset. The Park is adjacent to Beale Street Landing, & runs South about 1 mile parallel to the Mississippi River ~ total area is about 30 acres. Walk it in Family Circus fashion, as I do when I judge the BBQ Contest, & your Fitbit will go nuts. Panoramic views of the river make it a popular exercise & Sunset-viewing choice year-round. The M Bridge all lit up @ night is stunning. Young & old will be walking, jogging, rollerblading, or cycling daily except in extreme heat or cold. If you haven't been in a while, you will be surprised @ the improvements. The number of Visitors enjoying Tom Lee Park has increased more than 400% since RiverFit was installed.

On Sunday, July 27, 2014, Tony, Noel and I arrived at the Riverfront park named "TOM LEE PARK" after a very famous hero that saved many people out of the Mississippi River. The park is very nice and is Free. The statue is amazing! They have the BBQ Cookoff here at this park every year on the third week of May. I found some information on the internet that I wanted to share: om Lee Park is a city park located to the immediate west of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Encompassing about 30 acres (0.12 km²) parallel to the Mississippi River for about one mile (1.6 km), it offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River and the shores of Arkansas on the opposite side. The park is named after Tom Lee, an African-American riverworker, who saved the lives of 32 passengers of the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman in 1925.[1] Tom Lee Park is a popular location for walkers, joggers, roller bladers and cyclists, and hosts events throughout the year, including the Beale Street Music Festival that kicks off Memphis in May. I will definitely go to this park again once the weather is very sunny and very nice. I think my photos would be much nicer.

Great place to walk and view the river. I have also been to a few events here and they were fun and the night view is gorgeous. An all around good spot to exercise, have a picnic, walk the dog, or sit back and relax. Just go early as it tends to get hot in the afternoon and crowded.

I love parks with a view. The park runs next to the Mississippi River with long paths for jogging. Along the course, there are stations for calisthenics, which are somewhat new (within the last 5 years is my guess). Tuesday at noon, the parking lot was probably a quarter of the way occupied. Probably in spring/summer, this place gets full, but during winter it's fine. Going North there is an indoor eatery, a kids playground, and some additional structured space. It's a nice walk generally, and I bet it looks better when the grass isn't all dead haha. Glad I came through though!

This little park (30 acres, a mile long) has a lot going for it. The outdoor space is named after heroic Tom Lee who rescued many engineers from a sinking ship called the M.E. Norman in 1925. There are scenic views of the Mississippi River, a fitness course called RiverFit, grassy areas, volleyball courts, and restrooms (not the permanent kind). Oh, and there's free parking too. Wonderful photo ops as well from the big hill. Glad to have stumbled upon Tom Lee Park!

Tom Lee Park has gotten a face lift since I last saw it, and I have to admit that it looks pretty awesome! They've cleaned up a lot of the usual muddy areas with new sod which makes it more attractive looking. I was quite surprised to see the work out equipment they've put out too. Tom Lee Park is used for 3 reasons. 1. Reflection and relaxation. It is right next to the Mississippi River, and away from a the madness of downtown. In this, a lot of people will run along the side of the river on the paved sidewalks where it isn't always busy or crowded. 2. Kids come here to run and play. On a windy day, kids will bring their kites out here. 3. Memphis in May -- all activities. Music Fest? BBQ fest? All of the above, and what a hell of a time those are. Free parking is available.

This place is my GO TO spot to get my workout on. After a Hard day at the office, this is the spot to be. Great views, amazing Options for routes and occasionally passing of those in route to the Fall farmers market. If you get a chance?! Check out the insane stairs that many can be seen sprinting on daily as well as the hillside area overlooking Beale Street Landing. Amazing Area!

The river walk path above Riverside is a wonderful place for an early run. And in Memphis, you had better run early - it is a HOT, muggy city, but a little breeze off the Mighty Mississippi is all you need to keep you going. Lots of stairs for ramping up (forgive the pun) your run and head up to the elevated walking paths - you can walk all the way from Monroe to what we (former) locals call "the old Bridge". Beautiful homes on the bluff above, the "Mississippi Queen" riverboat in front. Benches for resting for a moment before you continue enjoying the views and great paths.

Equipped with our lounge chairs, a bottle of wine and some sandwiches; this years Sunset Symphony was absolutely perfect with temperatures in the low 80's during the day and cooling down nicely as the sun went down in the evening. The music was outstanding and the fireworks at the end topped another great Memphis in May!

They have upgraded it a little. It still saddens me that they have to close the park early every day because of idiots who can't get along and decide to shoot up people. Fun to Pokehunt in.

Nice place to hangout during the day or early evening, has some really nice sunsets. Run like hell at night, the place gets incredibly sketchy and as someone that lives overlooking the park I simply dont go even with my 150lb canne corso. It's a shame they dont clean it up at night, it's a total disgrace.

This park stretches for a mile or so along the bank of the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. It's a lovely view, particularly at night when the bridge is all lit up and a cool breeze comes up from the water. My family says that it has a particular smell, kind of muddy in the warm breeze, and it does -- I guess I'm just getting used to it. It's a long stretch of sidewalk -- perfect for someone looking to get exercise on their lunch break to look out at the Riverboat or barges that occasionally pass by. There are lots of dog walkers from nearby Mud Island. Personally, I like to take a walk along the sidewalk, then take a break in the grass with a take-out picnic lunch from one of the nearby restaurants on Beale Street.

Very nice green space along the mighty Mississippi. This a pretty large park right along the river. Obviously great views of the river, as well some nearby bridges (and the Pyramid!). There are jogging trails, with specific stops for different 'exercises stations', a soccer field, and one of the lanes of traffic is now bike lanes. In addition there is free parking which is always nice. A few Riverboats are docked nearby as well. We were here on a beautiful winter day, but I imagine it is a great space all year round.

There isn't too much here in the way of the typical accoutrements the word "park" sometimes conjures up -- no basketball courts or swing sets. What you WILL find here: more than a mile of paved walking paths with benches along the way, a great view of the Mississippi with a nice breeze to boot, a striking monument to Tom Lee, and a nice cross-section of Memphians enjoying the outdoors with their families. The grass is re-sod after each Memphis in May to make up for the trampling it gets during the music festival, so by this time of year it's lush and green. There's very little shade (this would be a great place for flying a kite) -- so take a hat and get ready to fall in love with Memphis again!

Great Riverside Park dedicated to an unsung hero. Very relaxing place in the early mornings or at sunset. Just beautiful. One can only hope some adults step forward and get Tom's stuff back up and stop using him as a political chess piece.

Tom Lee Park offers up some seriously fabulous views of the Mississippi River. It tends to be pretty quiet here, anytime I've taken the dogs out this way we haven't run into much in the way of humans or their animals. I second Noelle in that this park truly needs to be enjoyed at night. The views of the bridge all lit up and the traffic speeding by are simply breathtaking. I take my camera whenever we go, hoping by some miracle it will end up producing photos half as pretty as it looks in perfect. So far, I haven't had much luck. Lucky for me, it just means we will have to keep going there to try.

I've felt intimidated jogging here right before dusk simply because on a normal path, people would stay on one side or the other- in this case other patrons will walk toward the jogger and not move in either direction causing you to have to step off the path- and during the first signs of good weather for each season when everyone turns out to walk in this park, it's a bit crowded. I think there are a lot people hanging here that could turn the park into what it used to be (which is why I assume there are the blue light surveillance boxes every so often on the track) and there is a definite lack of security on busy weekends during the day. Cops show up at night to usher everyone out.

Great park. Fun to wander and see the river and rich people's houses. I think the workout stations were a good addition. Still a little peeved my wife can do 8x as many pull ups as me. I like the idea of coming back for a sunset. Also liked the fact that riverside drive has bike lanes now. Great planning!

Haha we can review this? That's funny. Since it's across from my neighborhood I'll review it. I'm going to be bias. It's convenient to have it right by our house. I'm not sure why it's called a park though, it's more like a riverside track. Obviously they just finished a mini water park and landing and restaurant at the other end. I wouldn't make a special trip for it but it's nice if you live right by it.

Great park for events and running. Great river views especially at sundown.