Juneau reopens Lemon Creek playground with fencing meant to keep out bikes

Juneau reopened Sigoowu Ye Park in Lemon Creek on Oct. 21 with new fencing at its entrances meant to keep bikes out, five weeks after closing the newly renovated playground over reports of bike riders running into children and damaging its new surface.

The park had been open again for only about six weeks when the city closed it Sept. 15. After the August reopening, the city said, it got reports that "reckless bike riders were scaring and running into young park users," and bike use damaged the new playground surface. Signs reminding visitors that bikes aren't allowed were vandalized, according to the city's closure notice.

That surface was a long time coming. The renovation, budgeted at $775,000, began in June 2025 and was supposed to finish that November. But the poured-in-place surfacing needs a stretch of warm, dry weather, so the city put it off last fall, then waited through a cool spring for three to five days in a row above 50 degrees. The contractor finished it July 31, and the city announced Aug. 3 that the park was open.

The renovation also brought new playground equipment, pathways, landscaping and lighting, based on ideas residents shared at a 2023 barbecue and public meeting at the park, which the city also calls Fun Place Park.

The new chicane rails at the entrances are meant to stop bikes from rolling in. Bikes are still banned in the park, and the city is pointing riders to the bike parks at Cope Park downtown and Thunder Mountain in the Valley.