Ada's New Park Adds a New Kind of Gathering Place

"Almost immediately, the park was completely full," WOOD TV reported.

That's Josh Hulst, who chairs Ada Township's parks, recreation and land preservation department, describing the opening weekend of Covered Bridge Park. He wasn't exaggerating for the cameras. The 15-acre space along the Thornapple River held its ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, August 25, and within days it had become the busiest patch of ground in the village, busier than the shops on Ada Drive, busier than the restaurant patios on River Street.

That reaction highlights another kind of public space in Ada. Since the Envision Ada plan started reshaping the village in 2015, the hotel, wine bar, and rooftop restaurant terrace have helped shape Ada's Saturday-night scene. Good additions, all of them. Covered Bridge Park adds another option for a Tuesday afternoon: somewhere to go that isn't a restaurant.

What the land used to be for

Before it was Covered Bridge Park, this ground was Leonard Field, a softball and baseball site best known for hosting Beers at the Bridge, a seasonal adult gathering. The new park offers a wider range of activities.

Construction on the new version started in September 2025 and wrapped this month, funded through the $8.5 million Connecting Community capital campaign, with major support from the Van Andel and DeVos families. The finished park keeps the historic covered bridge, built in 1867 and still listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as its visual anchor, but everything built around it points in a different direction than Beers at the Bridge ever did.

The new site includes a playground split into zones for younger and older kids, a splash pad (the first public one in Ada Township), two pickleball courts, a dog park, a kayak launch, river overlooks, a veterans memorial, renovated restrooms, expanded parking, and a new pedestrian bridge connecting the park to Legacy Park across the water. It sits at 7490 Thornapple River Dr SE, close enough to walk from most of the village.

How the park adds another kind of outing

Here's the part that matters if you already live in Ada. The village's retail buildout over the past ten years includes places for dinner, a drink, or a boutique stop on the way back to the car. The same stretch of River Street now holds Luna, MudPenny, The Lark Wine Bar, O'Brien's Deli, and Gravel Bottom, clustered within blocks of each other.

A splash pad and a dog park offer a different kind of outing from dining or shopping. They give people another way to fill an ordinary afternoon without driving somewhere else. The township added these options through an $8.5 million campaign spanning multiple years.

The dog park detail is worth sitting with. Ada Township didn't have one before this. If you own a dog in the village, your options were a leash, a car, and a drive to somewhere else. That's no longer true, and it's the kind of change that shows up in daily routines faster than it shows up in any headline.

How the park lines up with the rest of the fall

If you're already circling dates, Covered Bridge Park lands in the middle of a fall calendar that was already dense before the ribbon-cutting. The Ada Farmers Market runs every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October 27 in the parking lot of The Community Church of Ada, close enough to the new park that a market trip and a park stop fit into the same morning. Pumpkin Prowl, the village's biggest family event of the year, is set for Friday, October 23 from 5 to 8 p.m., with River Street closed to traffic and a new Haunted Bridge feature added to this year's lineup.

Ada's Social District, which lets adults 21 and over carry a drink from a participating restaurant into the outdoor commons area between Ada Drive and Legacy Park, runs daily from noon to 10 p.m. It's the kind of detail that used to define an evening out in Ada. Now it's one option among several, competing for attention with a splash pad that doesn't require a reservation and doesn't close when the kitchen does.

The village's own posted calendar keeps going well past Halloween:

• Brews & Dudes Night, November 10
• Ada History Center Wreath Sale, starting November 13
• Festival of Trees and the Winter Window Competition, December 1 through 3
• Winter Lights Walking Trail, running all of December
• Tinsel, Treats & Trolleys, December 4
• Santa Parade, December 5
• Holiday Women's Night Out, December 10

None of that calendar is new information for anyone who's lived here through a few Decembers. What's new is that the park now gives the shoulder seasons, the weekends between the scheduled events, something to do that isn't tied to a storefront's hours.

What to actually do with this

If you're weighing a first visit, know that the crowd that showed up opening week hasn't fully thinned out, so early mornings or weekday afternoons are still your best bet for open pickleball courts. The pedestrian bridge connecting to Legacy Park means you can park on either side of the river and still reach both the new splash pad and the older amphitheater without doubling back through the village center. And the dog park sits far enough from the splash pad that you won't be untangling leashes from toddlers, which is a small thing until you're the one doing it.

Covered Bridge Park adds more than a single feature to Ada. The village's redevelopment has added destinations worth driving to; the park adds another place to spend an ordinary Tuesday, including for people who already live here.

If you're weighing what a neighborhood like Ada actually offers day to day, beyond the version that shows up in a weekend guide, that's the kind of detail worth knowing before you commit to a street or a school district. Blu House Properties works this part of West Michigan closely enough to walk you through it property by property. Contact us when you're ready to talk specifics.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.