- Salt Lake resident Ali Vallarta visited all 511 Salt Lake County parks over two years.
- She created a searchable online map detailing park amenities and management.
- She found 69% of parks lack year-round bathrooms; only 15 have full family amenities.
SALT LAKE CITY — Ali Vallarta spent the past two years visiting every single park in Salt Lake County.
All 511 of them.
What started as a personal exploration project for the Salt Lake woman eventually turned into a searchable online parks map designed to help people find everything from playgrounds and splash pads to pickleball courts and dog parks.
Vallarta, host of the City Cast Salt Lake podcast, said the idea grew out of both curiosity and civic engagement. She said she began thinking more deeply about public resources and how people use them.
"I'm always thinking about like, 'What is good governance?' 'How are tax dollars being used?' like, 'What are the resources that are available to us that we're not making the most of?'" Vallarta said. "I think parks is the perfect example of that because they're free. Because they're not free, right? We pay for them with our tax dollars. They belong to the people."
From there, Vallarta set out to create what she described as a "census" of Salt Lake County parks.
"There wasn't ever really kind of even a list of that, because all the cities manage their own parks differently," she said. "I wanted to do this census of amenities so that I could really present to people like, 'Here all the things that you could be doing at your neighborhood park or here, or some outside of your neighborhood or your comfort zone that might be worth exploring.'"
Over two years, Vallarta visited parks across the county, documenting amenities ranging from basketball courts and beach volleyball pits to splash pads, water fountains and bathrooms. She also tracked who manages each park, hoping the map could help residents know what city was responsible for it.
"So that if you need to report that the trash needs to be taken out, or if you want to request a new amenity, you can make sure that you're barking up the right tree," Vallarta said.
The final product is a searchable online map allowing users to filter parks by amenities.
"I've got a dog and a toddler, for example, and I want to plan an outing. Where can I go that has both an off leash dog park and a toddler friendly play area?" she said.
The project also uncovered several trends across Salt Lake County parks.
According to Vallarta's findings, about 69% of parks in Salt Lake County do not have year-round public bathroom access.
"It is my top issue. There aren't enough," said Vallarta. "I'm a nerd, but I just think that's basic human dignity. Good communities have public bathrooms."
Vallarta also created what she called the "five golden stars of family friendliness" — parks that have playgrounds, splash pads, picnic tables, water fountains and bathrooms.
"Only 15 parks out of the 511 have all five," she said.
The project also found that wealth did not always correlate with park amenities. Vallarta said cities with lower median household incomes sometimes averaged more amenities per park than wealthier communities.
Beyond the data itself, Vallarta said the project helped her think differently about neighborhoods and public spaces.
"Sometimes I'm in Holladay and I think I'm in Millcreek and I'm in South Salt Lake, and I'm actually in Millcreek. So, I don't think we necessarily think of our lives that way. We think of our lives as regions, neighborhoods."
Vallarta said she hopes the map encourages people to explore more of their communities.
"I really think boredom is a state of mind," she said. "I've never been bored a day in my life, and I always hear people say, like, 'There's nothing to do in Salt Lake. It's so boring.' And I'm like, 'really? Have you tried going to 511 parks?'"
For Vallarta, the project ultimately became about more than playgrounds and park amenities.
"I would argue that when you think about government, what you picture is a room full of people yelling at each other," she said. "But when I think about government, what I picture is a pavilion, because this is actually what government can do for us, and this is how it really actually looks and feels in our communities is a mowed lawn, a new playground, things like that."
"These parks belong to us," Vallarta added. "Let's make the most of them."
