Pack Square Park

There is something serene about this space, especially at night with the town lit up for Christmas. The veterans memorial is moving, with the statue of the woman waiting for her person to return from duty. Good space for reflection. The splashville area was a good setting to bounce my bouncy ball and listen to music. However, I lost my bouncy ball there and unfortunately my ride arrived before I could find it. If anyone happens to find a clear bouncy ball with glitter stars in it, give it to someone who seems like they would enjoy it.

It's a good setup for a festival but not overly well maintained. I do think the covered stage is pretty cool. The sound quality was great on this particular setup.

We visited the park during the 2025 Labor Day weekend Boomtown Festival and it was the perfect place for vendors and live music concerts!

Such a mixed bag, depending on the event. We have been going to pack Square for about 20 years now. During the day it’s lovely with the splash park, but sometimes in the evening, depending on the free concert, you do get some rowdy folks. Not super rowdy people, and it’s certainly not Our own house less folks, although some people like to blame the houseless population. They seem to be rowdy folks that are there to drink and they’re usually pretty drunk before the concert even starts. And they are stepping on people’s toes and not aware of their body and their surroundings and just generally making things dangerous. It would be lovely at the events when they are serving drinks if they had more police patrolling, again, not for our local houseless population, because they’re really not doing anything wrong, but for the rowdy who have clearly had too much to drink. And it also often seems like these folks are coming from out of town, because they talk about it, how much they love being able to go to Asheville and really listen to the music and get drunk. So I’m hoping we’re monitoring them. It would be lovely if there could be more police presence That is focused on those people overindulging and not focused on people just merely sitting and enjoying the park. All that said, if it is not a big free concert that folks are coming to drink and be loud, it is a super safe space. We have had our kids’ ballet recitals there. We have had all sorts of lovely family- focused activities there. It just seems to be the bigger names that draw the crowds for the free concerts (often out of town, and I also see them littering and throwing things around. Hey, it’s not their town, right)? So they’re disrespecting our park. I would love to see more police presence handling those folks in particular. This concert in particular that you see in the photos, in one where my husband performed with the Asheville beer choir, as an opener before a big headliner. And I guess it had been a long time since we’d gone to a big headliner event, but wow, we were surprised at the rowdiness.

Pack Square Park was named in 1903 after the land was donated by philanthropist George Pack in 1901. It's had a long history. The modern park now hosts restrooms, a splash pad, and stage located in front of the City Hall and County Courthouse. The park continues on to the former location of the Vance Monument which the city removed but oddly left the base of it remain. They really should think things through and finish a project in such a central location. The stage portion of the park is often used for events, concerts, and etc. The park is a great area in which to relax when downtown. There is street parking and a city parking garage nearby. Many restaurants border or are in close walking distance from the park.