Marpole is underwhelming, and so are its parks. 

That’s the account, at least, of the City of Vancouver when it did a community plan in 2012, attempting to address 30 years of inattention and traffic from the Oak and Arthur Laing bridges balkanizing much of the neighbourhood. 

“I don’t think it’s as thriving as people would like it to be,” said city planner Matt Shillito to The Vancouver Sun, adding that Marpole’s parks “are in quite poor condition.”

And Marpole Park itself is one of those parks that seemingly hasn’t gotten an upgrade in decades. Surrounded on all sides by low-rise apartments, it has a nice neighbourhood vibe, and there’s a monument on one side to the large midden that’s central to the Indgenous history of the area. 

At the same time, the playground is old (though charming!), with a rusty slide that has seen better days. The field, as one Google reviewer said, “is more like sharp moss” than actual grass. And it’s the type of central neighbourhood park that screams for a washroom facility. 

Still, like most of Marpole, there’s good bones here. One can hope the same revitalization the city hopes for the neighbourhood will also happen for the park that shares its name.