Greenfield is the Hancock County seat and James Whitcomb Riley’s hometown, and the poet’s name is on the city’s main park, its October festival and the boyhood home on Main Street. Six of the 11 picks below are free, and five of those belong to Greenfield Parks and Recreation: a 40-acre park with a pump track and a sled hill, an inclusive playground, a wooded preserve with a suspension bridge, a 75-acre prairie park and a 5.6-mile rail trail through downtown. The county library, a board game cafe and a bowling center cover the cold months, Tuttle Orchards and Lark Ranch cover the fall and Lark Ranch comes back for December. Everything west of Hancock County is in our list of 101 things to do in Indianapolis with kids.
Jump to upcoming events in Greenfield
1) Riley Park
Riley Park is Greenfield’s main park, 40 acres along Brandywine Creek on the east side of downtown. It has playgrounds, a skate park, basketball, tennis and pickleball courts, a disc golf course, paved walking paths and a sled hill.
The pump track is a loop of rollers and banked turns that riders get around by pumping instead of pedaling. Greenfield Parks calls it the first and only pump track in Hancock County. Hardtail bikes with 20- to 26-inch wheels work best, and BMX and dirt-jump bikes are fine too.
From Memorial Day weekend into early August, the Kathy Dowling Aquatic Center charges $5 for kids 3 to 17 and $7 for adults, and Thursday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. are free swim. The free splash pad next door runs mid-May to early October, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a section set aside for families with kids 5 and under. Riley Park also holds two history museums, the Old Log Jail and the Chapel in the Park.
- Address: 280 N. Apple St., Greenfield (parks office); the pool and splash pad are at 300 Apple St.
- Hours: Dawn to dusk
- Cost: Free; pool admission $5 to $7, infants free
2) Hancock County Public Library
The children’s department at the Hancock County Public Library is set up like a small town. Kids can run a pretend veterinary office and a bakery, build in a LEGO corner and stack wooden blocks in a nature area with animal displays. When one of our writers brought her family, her 3-year-old ranked the two playhouses as the best part. Crawlers 2 and under have their own Baby Space, and there are early-literacy computers for beginning readers.
Storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers run Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and Chess Club is a drop-in for kids and teens on Monday afternoons. If the room gets to be too much, ask at the youth desk for the Sensory Collection: fidgets, child-size noise-muffling headphones, weighted items and calming bottles to use in the library. Kids 8 and under stay with a caregiver, and snacks are for the lobby.
- Address: 900 W. McKenzie Road, Greenfield; 317-462-5141
- Hours: Mondays through Thursdays 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 4 p.m.
- Cost: Free
Related Article: Kid-Friendly Libraries Near Indianapolis with Amazing Children’s Areas
3) Michael’s Playground
Greenfield’s first inclusive playground is named for Michael, a local boy who had Hunter syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, and died at 15. The equipment is built for kids of all abilities, with a universal carousel, an inclusive twister structure and outdoor musical instruments. There’s a pavilion with picnic tables and a parking lot. The city doesn’t list a restroom.
- Address: 1414 W. McClarnon Drive, Greenfield
- Hours: Dawn to dusk
- Cost: Free
4) Pennsy Trail and Depot Street Park
The Pennsy Trail follows the old Pennsylvania Railroad line through Greenfield for 5.6 paved miles, from County Road 150 West to County Road 400 East. Downtown it passes Depot Street Park, a 1.3-acre plaza built around the railroad story, with railroad-themed swings and picnic tables that roll on train-car wheels. Its dual amphitheater is where Greenfield Parks holds its free summer concerts.
Along the trail are historical markers, water fountains, exercise equipment at Center Street and the Rotary Art Park. The restrooms are at the 150 West trailhead and the Morristown parking lot.
- Depot Street Park: 251 Depot St., Greenfield
- Trail: County Road 150 West to County Road 400 East
- Cost: Free
5) Thornwood Preserve
Herb and Judy Brown donated the 40 acres of woods that became Thornwood Preserve. Its seven trails run from moderate to rugged, the woods hold three creeks and a suspension bridge crosses one of them. Thirteen blue learning posts mark stops along the way. The preserve has a pavilion, a restroom and a campground that opens on weekends only, when a staff member is there.
Next door, the Thornwood Nature Center has hands-on exhibits and videos about the animals and plants in the woods. It’s open Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from early April through late October, then closes for the winter while the trails stay open. Greenfield Parks also runs family nature programs at Thornwood, such as scavenger hunts.
- Address: 1597 S. Morristown Pike, Greenfield; the nature center is at 1707 S. Morristown Pike
- Hours: Dawn to dusk
- Cost: Free
6) Beckenholdt Park
Beckenholdt Park, on North Franklin Street, is 75 acres of wetlands, native prairie and young forest, with a native tree walk, a fishing pond and both paved and unpaved trails. Inside the Chimney Swift Tower are live cameras, and the park page carries the feed so kids can check whether the swifts are back.
There’s no playground, but there are a pavilion, an amphitheater, a charcoal grill and accessible restrooms. Rover’s Run Bark Park is for members only.
- Address: 2770 N. Franklin St., Greenfield
- Hours: Dawn to dusk
- Cost: Free
7) Hitherto Coffee & Gaming Parlour
Hitherto Coffee & Gaming Parlour is a coffee shop on North State Street with a board game library. Take a game off the shelf and play at your table, or reserve a game table ahead of time on the cafe’s website. Kids who don’t drink coffee can order pastries or ice cream. Hitherto stays open until 10 p.m. six days a week.
- Address: 1558 N. State St., Greenfield; 317-318-9782
- Hours: Mondays through Fridays 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturdays 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; closed Sundays
8) Strike Force Lanes
Strike Force Lanes is a 32-lane bowling center with bumper bowling for little ones, an arcade and a snack bar. The cheapest games are weekdays before 5 p.m., at $3.25 a person. After that, a game is $4.25 Monday through Thursday evenings and $4.75 from Friday evening through Sunday.
Lanes also rent by the hour for up to six bowlers, $25 Monday through Thursday and $30 Friday through Sunday. Cosmic bowling, 8 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, is $35 an hour. Leagues take up lanes on some nights, so Strike Force asks you to call about open lanes.
- Phone: 317-477-2695
- Cost: $3.25 to $4.75 per person per game; shoes $3.75
9) Tuttle Orchards
Tuttle Orchards, a fourth-generation family farm northwest of Greenfield that has been growing here since 1928, keeps its farm store and cafe open all year, Mondays through Saturdays. In November and December the cafe bakes a different donut flavor each week, sold Tuesdays through Saturdays while they last, and the store takes pre-orders for Thanksgiving turkeys and holiday fruit baskets. Tuttle’s is closed every Sunday and on Thanksgiving and the day after. It also closes from Dec. 25, 2026, through Jan. 1, 2027, and shuts at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
The FarmYard is the fall draw, open from late August through October. One $10 ticket covers more than 30 activities: narrated wagon rides, a 3-acre corn maze, a giant farm slide, a corn crib, farm trike tracks, grain bin basketball and a kids’ combine, plus goats and a llama to look at. Toddlers have their own corner with a barn slide, a sandbox and a playhouse. The U-pick pumpkin patch and apple picking run the same weeks and close with it. Pets stay home.
- Address: 5717 N. 300 W., Greenfield; 317-326-2278
- Hours: Farm store and cafe Mondays through Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in November and December; closed Sundays
- FarmYard: Late August through October; $10 for ages 2 and up, 1 and under free
10) James Whitcomb Riley Boyhood Home and Museum (March through October)
James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier Poet, grew up in this house on West Main Street, and the City of Greenfield runs it as a museum. Hostesses lead the tours, which show family life in the 1850s and ’60s through the family items that shaped his poetry. The museum on the same grounds covers his later career and has the gift shop.
The home opens for the season on the third Tuesday in March and closes after the last Saturday in October, so it sits out the winter. The last tour slot each day starts at 3 p.m., and groups of 10 or more should RSVP a week ahead. Outside, the Riley Arts Trail runs about 0.7 mile through downtown in every season, with Riley’s poetry etched into the concrete and hand-carved limestone benches, and it connects to the Pennsy Trail (No. 4).
- Address: 250 W. Main St., Greenfield; parking is off North Street, behind the home
- Hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in season
- Cost: $7 adults; $5.50 seniors and military; $2 students 6 to 17; 5 and under free
11) Lark Ranch (Fall Weekends and December)
Lark Ranch’s Greenfield farm, north of town near I-70, runs its fall season on Fridays through Sundays from mid-September through the first weekend of November. Admission covers the mile-long train, a hayride, the corn maze, Highland cows, bounce pillows, a ball zone, life-size birdhouses, pedal carts, a barrel train, carnival and kiddie rides and a carousel. Pony rides, gem mining and the apple cannon cost extra, and pumpkins are sold by the pound. Rides and food stands open an hour after the gates, outside food isn’t allowed and leashed dogs are. Some rides close in lightning or high winds, and the ranch doesn’t give rain checks.
In December, Lark Ranch reopens on select weekends for The Ultimate Country Christmas: a Christmas Train ride through a mile of lights, Santa visits, Build-a-Buddy in Santa’s Workshop, ornament decorating and the farm animals. The December dates and tickets aren’t posted yet.
- Address: 1611 N. Meridian Road, Greenfield
- Fall hours: Fridays noon to 8 p.m.; Saturdays 11 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m. by date; Sundays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Fall admission: $17 Fridays and $22 Saturdays and Sundays, ages 3 and up; $40 season pass
Coming Up in Greenfield
The slider below starts with Greenfield’s own events and fills in with nearby Hancock County towns such as Fortville, McCordsville and New Palestine, each labeled by town. The city’s official trick-or-treat hours go into our list of Indianapolis-area trick-or-treat times every October.
Coming Up in Greenfield
Family events in and near Greenfield, updated daily
Each October, the Riley Festival fills downtown for four days, and elementary students carry fresh bouquets to the Riley statue at the courthouse in the Parade of Flowers.
Putting a Greenfield Day Together
Downtown works on foot in any month: follow the poetry in the Riley Arts Trail sidewalks to the Pennsy Trail and the railroad swings at Depot Street Park. From mid-March through October, start that walk with a tour at the Riley Boyhood Home.
Thornwood Preserve’s trails and suspension bridge are open all year, and on weekends from April through October the nature center next door adds the exhibits after the hike. For kids who would rather ride than hike, pair the pump track and skate park at Riley Park with the mountain bike trail features at Henry B. Wilson Park, 14 acres on the Brandywine at 2349 Collins Way with a floating bridge across the creek. Wilson has no lot of its own: with the city’s permission, visitors park in the far spots of the Kohl’s lot on Martindale Drive (not during holiday shopping) and walk or ride 0.3 mile in through the Brandywine Village neighborhood.
On a cold weekday, go to a Tuesday or Wednesday storytime at the library, then bowl at Strike Force Lanes before 5 p.m., when games are cheapest. Hitherto’s game shelves are there for the evening.
In November and December, Tuttle’s weekly donut flavor is a Tuesday-to-Saturday errand and Lark Ranch’s December weekends bring the Christmas Train. Our list of Christmas tree farms near Indianapolis includes Lost Forty Tree Farm north of town, and when it snows, the sled hill is at Riley Park. Come spring, S&H Campground on Sugar Creek, where we’ve stayed in one of its cabins, reopens in April with weekend activities and a Family Fun Park that runs from May; it shuts down for the winter in early November.
The closest towns with guides of their own are up in Hamilton County: things to do in Fishers with kids and things to do in Noblesville with kids. For what’s happening across the metro in the next few days, our things to do this weekend in Indianapolis with kids list is rewritten every week.
