Johnstown with kids: a Ferris wheel in a shop, a pool with slides, and Old Town's parks

Johnstown has two halves for a family: the interchange at 2534, where the big attractions are, and Old Town, where the parks and the library are. A good day uses both.

The Ferris wheel: Scheels

Scheels at the 2534 interchange is a 250,000-square-foot sporting-goods store that is as much an attraction as a shop: a 65-foot indoor Ferris wheel, a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, a wildlife mountain, an arcade, a candy factory and Ginna’s Café. Weekdays 9:30 to 9, Saturday from 9, Sunday 10 to 6. It costs nothing to walk around; the wheel and the arcade charge.

Two doors along, Duck Donuts fries cake donuts to order and dresses them while you wait, weekdays 6 to noon and weekends 6 to 6, and Urban Egg does pancakes and skillets from 7 with gluten-free and dairy-free options marked.

The pool: the YMCA

The Johnstown Community YMCA on Settler Way, north of Old Town, is the town’s recreation centre: a lap pool and a leisure pool with slides and diving boards, a gym, an indoor track and fitness classes. Weekdays from 5 am, Saturday 7 to 7, Sunday 8 to 7.

The library

The Glenn A. Jones, M.D. Memorial Library on South Parish Avenue, next to Town Hall, runs a Music & Movement storytime and a Messy Art session weekly, Babytime on Thursdays, and a run of seasonal crafts through October. It has a makerspace and a library of things. Open until 8 Tuesday to Thursday, until 5 Monday and Friday, Saturday to 1; closed Sunday. The events page has the week’s sessions.

Old Town’s parks

Parish Park, at Charlotte and Raymond beside the Parish House Museum, is the town’s original park: a playground, restrooms, sand volleyball and walking paths under mature trees, with two reservable shelters. Lake Park, off Highway 60 at 149 Alabaster Way, has a walking path around the Town reservoir, a playground and fishing for bass, trout, catfish and crappie with a Town permit sold at Town Hall on weekdays. Eddie Aragon Park in Johnstown Center has the skate park, a lighted outdoor hockey rink, a basketball court and a playground. All the Town parks are open 5 am to 10 pm.

Pioneer Ridge Park, beside the elementary school on the east side, has a free nine-hole disc golf course that opened in June 2021, an easy first course for children.

The museum, free

The Historic Parish House & Museum is town founder Harvey Parish’s 1914 Craftsman bungalow on Charlotte Street, kept by the Historical Society with the family’s furnishings and a piece of the 1924 Johnstown meteorite, which is the thing to promise a child. Free, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 9 to 12.

Crepes in Old Town

Black Sheep Coffee & Crepes on Parish Avenue is the family-friendly creperie and coffee shop: sweet and savoury crepes, weekdays 7 to 2 and weekends from 8.