Planning an outdoor celebration? Start by snagging the perfect picnic spot. Picnic areas are ideal for laid-back birthdays, family reunions, team hangouts and other small get togethers—and reserving one is easier than you might think once you know the steps. From where to book to what to bring, here’s how to reserve a picnic area and arrive ready for a great day.
Step 1: Logging In/Creating Account
First things first we need to create an account on the citys new recreation portal. Use this link to go and create a new account or log in if you already have one. You can find the log in or create account buttons in the top right section of the home page. The sign up process is pretty quick. Once you have an account you can use it to reserve picnic areas, sign up for classes or sports leagues.
Step 2: Accessing the picnic portal
Once you are logged in we need to access the picnic portal. Go ahead press the button “Reserve a picnic area”
You will come to a screen that looks like the following. This is where you choose the date and park you want to reserve. Make sure that your date is at least 14 days out from the current date. You won’t be able to book anything less than that.
If your date is unavailable then it will look like this:
Step 3: Making the Reservation
Once you pick you date and the park, you will need to pick your time slot. A few things to note about this part:
- Picnic areas are only booked once per day. If you reserve a date, no one else will be able to reserve that date.
- Picnic reservation come in four hour time blocks. No less, no more. This doesn’t mean that you have to leave at the end of the four hours though. You can stay as long as you like till the park closes on the first come first serve basis.
- Choose the start time to be the earliest that you want to come set up for your event.
- The city will come post signs a couple days before reservations that the picnic has a reservation for the upcoming day/days.
- If you are worried about others trying to claim your spot even though you reserved it, don’t worry. At the end of the process we will go over how this is handled.
Once you have picked your start time, you will be taken to the next step. The page is pretty striaghtforward. it has all your information that you entered when you created your account. Just double check to make sure it’s correct. Where you want to pay attention is the bottom of this page where you see these boxes:
These boxes say optional but they are not. Not filling these out can hold up you getting your permit. I’ll take you through both right now.
Picnic Reservation Questions
This is just a few simple questions and acknowledgments. Things like:
- How many guests you plan to have
- If you plan to have any vendors like bounce houses, inflatables, nerf battles etc.
- If you will have food and if it self prepared or catered
- As well as acknowledging that the city’s picnic usage agreement and policy on vendors
Where this area can potentially hold your permit process up:
- Using a vendor that is not on the preapproved vendor list. If you plan to use a vendor that is not on the list (I placed the preapproved vendor list at the bottom of the page) then you will need to book at least 30 days in advance in order for the vendor and the city to work out insurance and contracts.
- Using an onsite cooking vendor. This is against the city’s policies and is strictly forbidden. You are welcome to use the grills at the picnic areas and prepare food yourself as well as pick up catering or have it dropped off but there can be no food preparation on site.
- Having over 100 guests. Once your guest count hits 100 the city requires you to get insurance for your event. There are waivers that you sign that acknowledge this so if you have over 100 guests and something happens and try to take action against the city they will use this against you. The insurance doesn’t cost very much and most reservations don’t come close to 100 guests. If you hit 200 guests then it will be considered a special event and that is entirely different process and much more expensive. This would usually only be for non profit community events/marathons or other types of events like that.
Picnic Table Location
You will not see this for every park. There are parks around the city that have multiple areas for picnics. This is just indicating which one you would like. Here’s why this is important:
- If you don’t let them know which area you want then they won’t know where to put the reservation signs. The city will try contacting you in order to ask this information. While this won’t hold up you getting your permit if you don’t indicate your preferred location then they will put it on which ever they feel is best and it may not be the one you want. That could lead to a lot of headaches for everyone so better just to avoid that.
- Picnic areas are only reservable once per day and only one picnic area per park (unless otherwise designated). You won’t be able to reserve the other picnic areas at the park you chose.
Step 4: Confirmation & Finalization
Now we have come to the final steps that you need to take in the process. First just confirm all the details are correct on the final page.
Once you have confirmed your details there is just a couple more things to do. Sign the the waivers and pay the invoice. The invoice is pretty straight forward to find and complete. The waivers are a little trickier though. You can find those by going in the reservation tab, clicking into the reservation you just made and going to the bottom of the screen.
Once those two things are done you should be good to go. Someone will review your reservation and email your permit in the next couple business days, sometimes even the same day. If there is anything that they have questions on they will almost always contact by email and sometimes by phone as well. Depending on the matter. As long as you laid out everything during the reservation process there shouldn’t be any problems.
It is recommended that you have a copy of your permit on you (on your phone or printed) during your event.
Important Things to Know
Cancellation Policy
In order to receive a full refund, you must put your cancellation request in writing at least two weeks in advance of your reservation.
If you need to move dates you most certainly can but you getting the date and park you want will depend on availability.
If rain is forecasted on your event date you may email to cancel or move dates. The city has no official rain policy for picnics but will try to help. They will not refund cancelled reservations until the following week after the reservation and will be dependent on if it actually rained at the park you reserved.
Approved Vendors
Here is the list of current approved vendors. This is directly from the city website and is up to date as far as we know. If we find any changes we will update the list
Day of contact
Should you need to get in contact with someone from the reservation office the day of your event, the city will provide a phone number in the same email that has your permit.
Other FAQs
You can find out other FAQs about picnic reservations by following this link. We will be updating this post for any changes that we find in the future.
Wrap Up
And that’s it—you’re ready to reserve your spot and start planning the fun. With your date picked, reservation submitted, and details squared away, you’re one step closer to an easy, memorable day outdoors. If happen to still be in the planning phase, give our guide on which vendors are allowed at picnic areas a quick read—it’ll help you finalize food, entertainment, and extras without any last-minute hiccups. See you at the park!