(Portland, OR) –
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) has completed the long-awaited expansion of outer Southeast Portland’s Parklane Park . Following a five-and-a-half-year design and construction process, the park is now open and has been transformed from five acres to an impressive 25 acres of recreational space in District 1. It is now Portland’s largest developed park east of I-205.
The new Parklane Park features a new playground, splash pad, basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields, pavilion for community events, covered picnic areas, community garden, skate park, dog off-leash area, paved walking paths, additional restrooms, parking, public art, and hundreds of new trees.
“The expanded Parklane Park is a community centerpiece,” says PP&R Director Adena Long. “It helps address the significant lack of parks, open spaces, and recreation in the Centennial neighborhood. With so many new amenities on 25 acres, this is a major investment in East Portland, an exciting project that will benefit Portland for generations.”
Parklane Park serves 2,824 nearby residential units. 828 of them did not have ready access to any parks or natural areas prior to this project. The park’s immediate neighbors to the east are Oliver Middle School and Parklane Elementary School in the Centennial School District, with a combined enrollment of nearly 900 students ranging from kindergarten students to 8th graders.
Funding and added benefits
System Development Charge (SDCs), not tax dollars, funded the park project. SDCs are one-time fees from new developments that support Portland's growing infrastructure.
The park was designed by local landscape architecture firm, Walker Macy, and constructed by Stacy Witbeck. A Local Improvement District (LID) funded by the park project and managed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) created street and sidewalk improvements that improves access to and around the new park.
Join the Parklane Park Opening Celebration
Thursday, June 12, 3pm to 6pm, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3:30pm.
The ceremony will include Portland Parks & Recreation Director Adena Long, District 1 Councilors Loretta Smith and Jamie Dunphy, and other community partners.
Enjoy family-friendly activities in the new park after the final bell on the last day of school for Parklane Elementary and Oliver Middle School students just next door.
For more information on Parklane Park, please visit the project page at portland.gov/parks/construction/parklane-park-project
New Public Art
Naomi Likayi is a first-generation Congolese American artist based in Portland. Her mural installed at Parklane Park’s pavilion and picnic shelter columns, is called Shared Differences. It was inspired by the Bakongo Dikenga Cosmogram. It symbolizes the connections between the spiritual and physical worlds, the seasons, and ancestral knowledge. As part of the process, Portlanders chose a community Cosmogram to represent the power of collaboration—regardless of where each of us is in the four seasons of life.
Jennifer Dixon is a cross-disciplinary artist whose works have been exhibited locally and nationally. Her work at Parklane Park, Stone Seed Nest, celebrates the natural world and quintessential characteristics of the Pacific Northwest. The works call attention to the park’s distinct location and ever-changing Centennial neighborhood's past, present, and future.
Part of Portland’s public art collection, both Dixon and Likayi’s pieces were commissioned through the City’s Percent for Art program, which is managed by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) via a contract with the Office of Arts & Culture.
Summer Free For All Kickoff Event
Portland Parks & Recreation welcomes everyone to join the Summer Free For All Free Lunch + Play kickoff celebration on Thursday, June 26, 11 am to 1 pm at Parklane Park. Everyone 17 and under can come to share a meal and have fun in the sun! Arts in the Park will be crafting with kids, Rose City Rollers will have free roller skating for kids (bring socks), DJ George will be spinning tunes, and there will be lots of lawn games and fun!
A New Portland Community Garden in the program’s 50th year!
In 2025, Portland Parks & Recreation’s Community Gardens Program is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the opening of two new community gardens in East Portland. The community gardens at Mill Park and Parklane Park mark the 61st and 62nd gardens in a growing portfolio (pun intended) which provides Portlanders with space to grow healthy food for themselves and their families. Community members and neighbors interested in gardening can request a plot in any garden using this garden plot request form. Plot availability is not guaranteed.
Parklane Park Project Background
The site of Parklane Park was once used as an airfield, and then as a gravel quarry which was later filled with debris in the 1990s. When the surrounding subdivisions were built in the 1970s, the triangular five-acre parcel that is now the southern end of Parklane Park became a Multnomah County park. Local residents planted many of the trees and installed red and white striped playground equipment, which gave the park its nickname, “Candy Cane Park.”
In 1993, the park was transferred to Portland Parks & Recreation. In 2001, the City purchased an additional 20 acres to the north, the site of the former gravel quarry, and later completed a planning document to guide development when funding allowed.
The community’s role
Portlanders have been instrumental in shaping the design for Parklane Park through a project advisory committee and a series of community gatherings between fall 2019 and summer 2020. This engagement process resulted in a design that reflects the community’s values and desires.
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