Myriad Botanical Gardens and Scissortail Park provide myriad reasons to visit a park

One of the best things you can do to stay healthy outside of your domicile these days is availing yourself of all the goodness available at a park! Just think: Sunshine, fresh air, vitamin D, exercise, a touch of nature, easy social distancing, it’s all there (quite possibly including some interesting people-watching – yes, we see you random unicycle man, unnecessarily shirtless talking-to-himself guy and aging-hippie-with-political-statement-on-a-t-shirt-and-too-many-dogs lady. Mission successful, you were noticed).

But beyond the usual everyday goodness, two of our favorite parks now have new reasons to visit. First off, the OSU-OKC Farmers Market at Scissortail Park is now in a “soft open” phase, which is better and much less boring than the previous “not open at all due to the pandemic” phase, so we’ll take it! Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the time to get your local produce and products picked out and picked up, all right there at the park.

While you’re there, take a ride on a pedal boat or let your pooch run around the dog park. Be sure to bring your own dog toy though.

A block north, the Crystal Bridge at the Myriad Botanical Gardens is officially reopened! This one-of-a-kind conservatory featuring two distinct climates, “cascading waterfalls” and more than 750 varieties of plants over 13,000 square feet is ready to welcome you. Age 62 and older and want to feel even safer whilst tiptoeing through the tulips (and everything else) in the conservatory? Senior hours are available on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 to 10 a.m. before the general public can.

Remember Myriad and Scissortail are operated by a private foundation, so the Scissortail playground hasn’t opened yet like the City parks’ playgrounds have done. The current schedule states that the Scissortail Park playground and splash park will open June 1, but it’s subject to change. The Myriad children’s area opened over the weekend.

Beyond these, there are plenty of reasons to visit both Scissortail Park and Myriad Botanical Gardens, especially as more features are re-opened, so make a point to check them out!

And mark your calendars for Saturday, when Myriad will host the annual Flower & Garden Festival. Click here to find out more about that event that runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This content originally appeared on The Better Life blog.