The Lafayette–West Lafayette Community offers an array of cultural, recreational, and entertainment opportunities. The 2005–06 Purdue University Visitors’ Guide is an outline of enticing things to do on campus and in the community. The guide is available at the Visitor Information Center on the Purdue campus, by calling 49-44936 (49-4INFO), or via an online request at www.purdue.edu/vic. The West Lafayette Parks and Recreation offices are located at City Hall, 775-5110.

International shopping, dining, and entertainment options are wonderfully enticing for starters. There is also an art museum, a historical museum, a civic theatre, a symphony orchestra, a ballet company, and seasonal farmer’s markets along with antique stores, brew pubs, artists cooperatives and galleries, Lafayette and West Lafayette libraries, cinemas, bowling alleys, golf courses, quaint shops and department stores, coffee houses, bookstores, and restaurants along with an assortment of exercise facilities and many public parks. A varied slate of popular community activities attracts large crowds to the historic downtown Lafayette area for fun.

The downtown area is the site for the Round the Fountain Air Fair in May, A Taste of Tippecanoe in June, and the Christmas Parade in December, to spotlight a handful of popular events. Ninth Street Hill annually dresses in red, white, and blue flags and bunting for the Festooned Fourth (of July) celebration. Each December on the weekend before Christmas and on Christmas Eve, Ninth Street and other historical downtown neighborhoods are lined with hundreds if not thousands of luminaries as a gift to the community. Recently Ninth Street Hill drew national recognition when Family Fun magazine featured “American’s Most Fun Neighborhoods.”

Imagination Station at 600 N. Fourth Street is a children’s museum that offers tomorrow’s scientists, engineers, and space explorers hands-on learning experiences. The Web site includes a calendar of events and information about hours of operation. Visit www.imagination-station.org.

Columbian Park, just minutes from downtown Lafayette, offers an array of attractions for people of all ages. The Tropicanoe Cove Family Aquatic Center opened in the park during the summer of 1999 with its spiraling 299-foot “Banana Peel” tube slide, its leisurely “Cattail Crik” lazy river, and Sunfish Bay water playground. Columbian Park Zoo, closed for renovation until spring 2006, is one of the oldest zoos in Indiana. But there’s more — new picnic shelters, the adventurous SIA playground with designated areas for tots to teens, and Loeb Stadium, site of the Colt World Series each summer.

In addition to Tropicanoe Cove, there are currently three aquatic facilities in operation in Lafayette–West Lafayette: Castaway Bay, on the northwest corner of Armstrong Park, Ninth Street and Beck Lane, Lafayette; Vinton Pool, 3111 Prairie Lane, Lafayette; and West Lafayette Municipal Pool, located behind Happy Hollow School, 1200 North Salisbury. Public aquatic facilities in the area typically are open from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Murdock Park is a 39-acre respite in the center of Lafayette with an urban forest interpretive trail, a sled run, a nine-hole disc golf course, and two picnic shelters.

Golf enthusiasts can golf along the banks of the Wabash River at the 18-hole Lafayette Golf Course in McAllister Park, 800 Golfview Drive, just off North Ninth Street.

McAllister Recreation Center serves the leisure needs of Lafayette by offering a variety of youth and adult programs.

For additional information about Lafayette Parks and Recreation, please go online to www.lafayetteparks.org and click on “Parks and Facilities.” You can also call 807-1500 or e-mail parks@lafayette.in.gov.

West Lafayette has its own park bragging rights, starting with the 185-acre Celery Bog Nature Area, off of Lindberg Road. The area includes a four-mile paved cattail trail, a one-mile footpath, and the Lilly Nature Center.

Happy Hollow Park, which is nestled in the ravines of the Wabash River valley, features two playgrounds, two miles of trails for hiking and bicycling, footpaths, a winter tube run, two volleyball courts, a small ball field, picnic tables, and picnic shelters and cookout facilities that may be reserved.

Tapawingo Park, near the John Myers pedestrian bridge that links West Lafayette with Lafayette, has a section of paved Wabash Heritage Trail; a playground; and picnic tables. Here, Riverside Skating Center is open for ice-skating from late fall to spring, and the remainder of the year for inline skating and special events.

Students frequent Tommy Johnston Park at Wood and Chauncey streets in the campus area. The two basketball courts, exercise area, swing set, picnic shelter, and tables are busy much of the time.

Mascouten Park on State Road 43 along the Wabash River offers a boat ramp and picnic tables.

Cumberland Park, at the corner of Salisbury Street and Kalberer Road, is a complex of two lighted softball fields, lighted basketball courts, and 14 acres of open turf/soccer areas as well as a wooded nature preserve. A half-mile footpath is in place.

West Lafayette Parks and Recreation also maintains the Morton Community Center, 222 N. Chauncey Street, with its multiple-use rooms, a playground, and picnic tables.

Both the Lafayette and West Lafayette communities have been designated “Bicycle-Friendly Communities,” and the Wabash River Cycling Club organizes group rides.

Four miles south of West Lafayette on River Road is Fort Ouiatenon, a park that offers visitors a picnic area, a ramp on the Wabash River for boating, and a replica of an eighteenth-century blockhouse. On the first floor of the blockhouse, in the gift-shop area, is a reproduction of an original trading post. The second floor of the blockhouse is an interpretive museum that tells the story of Fort Ouiatenon. Each fall it is the site of the Feast of the Hunter’s Moon, a widely popular re-enactment of a gathering of French and Native Americans at the trading outpost in the middle 1700s.

Ross Hills Park, off Division Road southwest of West Lafayette, offers picnic facilities, playfields, hiking, a disc golf course, and the Ross House, available for meetings and receptions.

One and one-half miles off State Road 43 and seven miles north of West Lafayette, Tippecanoe Battlefield is one of Indiana’s few national landmarks. Here, in 1811, the allied tribes of Indians under the Prophet and his brother and great leader Tecumseh attacked Indiana and U.S. forces under William Henry Harrison. A small museum interprets the causes and results of the battle and shows artifacts of the area (hours of operation vary according to season; call the museum for hours of operation at 567-2147). The acreage at the battlefield offers a wide variety of topography and accompanying plants and wildlife. There are picnic areas, and trails through the area give visitors a wide range of scenery. A nature center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. mid-April through mid-November.

The 33-year-old Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering at the Tippecanoe Battlefield in June is a popular three-day annual acoustic music festival featuring the best in old-time, bluegrass, swing jazz fiddle, string band, Celtic, and ethnic music on one stage.

Prophetstown State Park, Indiana’s newest state park, is also located in Battleground. It consists of a campground, hiking trails, a bike trail, playgrounds, and picnic shelters. Historic Prophetstown, 300 acres within the park, is set aside to preserve the agricultural, environmental, and Native American heritage of the land. A 1920s farmstead, a restored prairie, and a developing Native American village help tell the story.

The Wabash Heritage Trail, a 13-mile path along the banks of the Wabash River, begins at the Tippecanoe Battlefield Park and winds its way through Riehle Plaza in Lafayette. Outdoor enthusiasts, avid hikers, and history buffs can explore any portion of the trail, which is jointly maintained by the Tippecanoe County, West Lafayette, and Lafayette parks departments. Parts of the trail are paved and handicapped accessible. Trail conditions and maps are available at the nature center at the Tippecanoe Battlefield, or by calling 567-6218. Tippecanoe County Parks and Recreation also can provide information; call 463-2306.

Wolf Park, located 1.5 miles north of Battle Ground, is perhaps the only place in the world where wolves and bison can be seen together in captivity. It is open to the general public daily
1–5 p.m. from May 1 to December 1, except non-holiday Mondays when the park is closed. It also is open Friday at 7:30 p.m. for the Howl Night program from May to December, and Saturday Howl Nights occur every Saturday throughout the year. Admission is $7 adults (14 years and older), $8 on Sunday; $5 for kids 6-13, $6 on Sunday. Members and kids under 5 are free. The park also is open by prearrangement for private tours any day, usually in the morning before it is open to the general public, and including Mondays.