If you are planning your next vacation, you must consider the things to do in Garden City. Garden City is a western city in Idaho, where Boise surrounds the entire city. The latest and modish city works as a starting point for businesses and artists due to its population. Garden City has preserved nature and a creative atmosphere, so it has much to do with reasonable rents. The city is known for its well-established Craft Beverage Corridor, breweries, and wineries.
The region is also famed due to its dozens of artists’ studios. The visitors can enjoy the Boise river sights and its Greenbelt trail system. You can also enjoy their cultural events and family-friendly sites just minutes away from each other.
Things to Do in Garden City (Idaho)
Let’s discuss the best things to do in Garden City, Idaho.
1- Watch Changing Collection of Murals at Freak Alley
It is a local service alley on 8th and 9th streets in downtown Boise, where you can reach in just 5 minutes. Also, it is a local mind-blowing art gallery that comes with a changing collection of Murals for free. It is a place where you can see the best public art murals by more than 200 artists from Boise and beyond that will exceed your expectations.
Freak Alley undergoes continuous changes as the murals cover with new paintings every two years. Visitors can walk around the incredible artwork where the artists explain the basic taggers of artwork. So, never miss the implausible street art in Boise if you are near Freak Alley.
2- Watch Different Species of Plants at Idaho Botanical Garden
It is a local botanical garden spread on 50 acres present on North Old Penitentiary Road, Boise, Idaho, United States. It was an old Penitentiary farm that turned into a botanical garden in 1973. There are several different areas in the garden, having specific things to see, and it is not possible to cover all those areas in a single visit.
Never miss the Koi Pond area about 2 feet long but worth visiting. Visitors can stroll around the garden where they can watch and learn about several species of plants. There is also a kid’s specific area, where you can leave your kids in that area and stroll the garden leisurely.
3- Visit State Historic Old Idaho Penitentiary
Old historical Penitentiary is the best place to start a historical tour as it was a state prison that stayed active for a century from 1872 to 1973. The Old Idaho Penitentiary was built almost two decades before Idaho gained sovereignty. The building is built up of Romanesque Revival sandstone and bordered by the 17-foot stone wall. The Boise Range by inmate brought the required material to the Penitentiary.
Approximately 13,000 prisoners walked through the Penitentiary’s gates, but Harry Orchard (1866-1954) was the most prominent personality who stepped into the prison. You can also visit the preserved salutatory units, cells, and blocks and disclose more about The Orchard’s story.
4- Have Fun at Westy’s Garden Lanes
West Garden Lanes is one of the sizeable alleys in Garden City, Idaho, containing 40 lanes. It is an antique alley founded several years back in 1959 and still entertaining generations of Boise and Garden City residents. Whether you pick up a time slot or a bowl by the game, it is always up to you. You can also choose MAD Games if you are with your family.
The MAD Games runs the lane into an interactive video game that keeps you engaged continuously. Serious players are also welcome to the weekend nights when it holds the blacklight “Cosmic Bowling” and several tournaments. There is also a restaurant beside the alley that serves food all day with a considerable menu.
5- Visit the best Asana Climbing Gym
It’s been an indoor climbing facility at the Glenwood Shopping Center for more than 20 years in Garden City. Idaho contains several top-class climbing points, but you can develop your climbing skills in the Asana Climbing Gym is one of the best places to do that.
You can also get a one-day trial to experience the most challenging workouts on a trial basis, and you can also buy its membership. The gym holds a comprehensive schedule of activities and an experienced group of staff. You can join their climbing classes, yoga and aerial arts sessions, youth programs from after-school climbs to summer camps, and ecstatic dance sessions.
They provide a comfortable climbing environment where surfaces are covered with climbing grips.
6- Take A Part in Western Idaho Fair
The Expo grounds of the Garden City holds three annual state fairs in Idaho. The western Idaho Fair is an agricultural vent for ten days that starts on the third Friday of August, having a history back to 1897. It was the Intermountain Fair, answering a requirement for Idaho’s dispersed rural communities to merge at that time.
The Fair now covers seven acres of carnival area where big-name recording artists and entertainers were induced for decades, and that’s how things change. But agricultural activities are still held traditionally with livestock and machinery exhibits, competitions, sales, and a wealth of crops. On the other hand, the Expo ground accommodates other activities for the rest of the years, including dog shows, trade shows, Christmas plays, and vehicle exhibitions.
7- Visit Recreational Spot Boise River Greenbelt
The Greenbelt is a system of waterside trails that is a well-known asset for Boise and its suburbs, expanding on 20 miles of the Boise River between Lucky Peak Dam in the east and Eagle in the west. These trails consist of undeveloped green spaces rich with wildlife and peaceful waterfront parks in 850 acres with zero disturbing vehicles. It is also the best place for birding, and visitors can see several species of birds there at dawn and dusk time.
You can see waterfowls, including Mallard, Hooded Merganser, Canada Goose, and Common Merganser. It is also commonplace to watch some water birds and songbirds, including Double-crested Cormorant, Pied-billed Grebe, and occasionally the great blue heron. Moreover, visitors can also enjoy biking, Kayaking, and paddleboarding at the site.
8- Follow the Garden City Artisans Pathway
The visitor’s bureau of Garden City has invented a trial to connect several abundant points like wineries, artists, and craft breweries. These trails assist the visitors as they can clutch a map by Joe’s Crab Shack close to the historical marker. This map will guide you to several small businesses, including glass artists, ceramicists, photographers, and jewelry makers, with clearly illustrated labels and numbers.
You can move towards the cidery, craft brewery, or winery to make some mouthwatering and delicious discoveries. On the other hand, you can also have signs posted around town to get towards play and taste without having a map.
9- Enjoy Live Performance of Boise Hawks Baseball
Boise Hawks is Idaho’s professional sports team for baseball based right here in Garden City. The Boise Hawks used to play their home games at Memorial Stadium right on the Boise River close to the Western Idaho Fairgrounds in 1987. The memorial stadium has a natural grass playing field that can hold a crowd of about 3,500 spectators.
The stadium has undergone several improvements from 1989 after its opening. You can also taste some traditional food at some distant restaurants offering unexpansive beer, snack fingers, and hot dogs. You will also enjoy the firework they do before and after the game. Additionally, this memorial stadium also holds several events around the year.
10- Enjoy Outdoor Activities at Ann Morrison Park
It is a delightful riverside park spanning over 150 acres of land, providing habitat to wildlife and offering outdoor activities to its visitors in Garden City. The park was established in 1950 facilitated with water features, fascinating details, and other amenities. Visitors can enjoy birding in the central park with an urban feel of the environment.
Ann Morrison Park also provides a conservative station to insects, birds, bats, and other animals. Visitors can also find a kid’s playground, an 18-hole disc golf course, an outdoor gym, horseshoes, a cricket field, and bocce in the park.
11- Enjoy Water-based Activities
You will get an appealing look, particularly on a sunny day, through a walk along the Greenbelt. This area contains several green spaces suitable for relaxing and picnic where the river is constantly forking off into channels. A couple of companies offer rental boats, and visitors can enjoy paddleboarding near the Greenbelt in Garden City.
Visitors can also enjoy Kayaking and canoes where they offer hourly and daily rates for inflatable SUPs, and gear offers daily package deals for paddleboarding.
12- Taste some wine at Telaya Wine Co.
Telaya Wine Co. produces handmade wines with fresh grapes of vineyards grown around Washington and Idaho right on the Greenbelt. Visitors can use the bike rack there to ride by the river. The list of emancipations includes a lineup of red blends, a Pinot Gris, a Petit Verdot, a Malbec, Tempranillo, a Cab Franc, Cabernets Sauvignons, a Malbec, and Chardonnays.
Visitors can also bring their eatables or snack, but there is no insufficiency of eateries along the Greenbelt for takeout. Visitors can also take a private guided tasting to know more about how Telaya crafts its wine. The guided tasting of wines includes six wines and an enlightening tour through the production space.
13- Try Hard Cider Drink at Meriwether Cider Company
Hard cider was a popular drink throughout the United States, but its production stopped after its prohibition. The production of this drink was stopped by law because people claimed that this beverage is an unfiltered apple juice. But one brand that is gaining a foothold in the Boise area is the Meriwether Cider Company and making its comeback by blending the drink-ability of beer with the sophistication of wine.
There is a cider house in downtown Boise, and they are using apples from the Northwest Meriwether has a taproom on the Craft Beverage for making this drink. Visitors can watch a variety of thymes at the tap-room, including barrel-aged or brewed with blackberry, hops, wine grapes or cherry, ginger, semi-sweet ciders, and semi-dry. You can visit the Meriwether Cider Company anytime round the year to taste a Cider drink as there will always be a seasonal cider to try.
14- Taste Beverages at A Small Barbarian Brewing
It is a small batch brewery established in Garden City for intrepid and creative taste in 2015. There is also another little taproom in downtown Boise. Barbarian Brewing keeps its beers in oak barrels and makes a mixture according to the old world methods with the new world revolution.
There are approximately 20 drafts at one time at the taproom in Garden City, where you can order wines, local ciders, and limited-run beers by the bottle. Moreover, you can also grab some live music concerts and food trucks on the weekend.
15- Taste Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic slush at Western Collective Beer
The latest, modish craft brewery is located in a warehouse south of Garden City. Moreover, it is a small-scale brewery where visitors can taste alcoholic and non-alcoholic slush and other delicious eateries. It is a family-friendly place with having clean and calming atmosphere with a fantastic layout and roll-up doors.
They also serve tasteful beers that are little on the price, but you can also try slushes that taste good and refreshing in summers. Visitors can always find something including diversity of food, from Japanese to the Caribbean, live music shows, and food trucks.
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