Why did Solon's ninth annual Fall Festival run on hay bales, lawn chairs and food trucks when the park has a stage for concerts and a concessions building planned? On Oct. 10, families crowded around a giant corn box and an inflatable corn maze, and the Pumpkin Decorating Contest filled the tables. People watched the live music from hay bales and their own folding chairs. The Swagelok Stage, the concessions building and the new entry pavilion with public restrooms are all part of the Community Park redevelopment. None of them was in use that Saturday.
That pattern explains this fall at Community Park. The parts built for an ordinary Tuesday are open: the playground, the pickleball courts and the walking paths. The parts built for a crowd of thousands are what the city now expects to finish for 2027.
The everyday half is ready
Two big pieces opened this year, and each came after a long wait.
Sebastian's Playground is the inclusive play space the Botirius family helped the city design for children of all abilities. It first opened in April 2025, one of the earliest finished pieces of the redevelopment, and then closed for all of summer 2026 as construction spread around it. According to cleveland.com's Chagrin Solon Sun, the city announced on Sept. 2 that the playground would reopen Saturday, Sept. 5, in time for Labor Day weekend.
The outdoor pickleball complex had its ribbon cutting on July 24. It has 10 courts, two of them ADA-accessible championship courts. The timeline for those courts slipped too. In May 2025, Parks and Recreation Director Rich Parker said the championship courts were designed to "support the potential for hosting competitive tournaments and regional events," and the courts were expected to open that July. They opened a year later.
By late July, the city reported that the walking paths were paved and the pavilion near the playground had gone up.
| Feature | Status as of the city's latest public updates |
|---|---|
| Sebastian's Playground | Reopened Sept. 5, 2026 |
| Outdoor pickleball complex, 10 courts | Opened with a July 24, 2026 ribbon cutting |
| Walking paths | Paved by late July 2026 |
| Pavilion near the playground | Erected by late July 2026 |
| Portz Parkway restroom building | Framed as of late July; the Sept. 2 reopening notice said portable toilets would be placed near the playground |
| Concessions building | Foundation poured as of late July |
| Sand volleyball courts | Being prepared as of late July |
| Main parking lot | Paving expected in the weeks after late July |
| Swagelok Stage, Cole Zelwin Central Park, entry pavilion with restrooms | Part of the plan; full park access expected in 2027 |
The crowd half is still fenced
The unfinished list follows a pattern. Nearly every item still under construction exists to serve large gatherings.
When Solon City Council approved Phase 2 on Dec. 2, 2024, it hired Mammoth Sports Construction of Meriden, Kansas, for about $12.1 million. That contract covered an entry pavilion with restrooms, a stage, a concession stand, a maintenance building, pre-engineered restrooms and more park pavilions, along with storm sewer work, a renovated parking lot, sidewalks and the pickleball courts. Two smaller pavilions are replacing the large pavilion that was torn down in the summer of 2024.
In May 2025, Parker described the Central Park area as the core of the park's event life. It was planned to include walking paths, an open-air stage and a classroom built for Safety Town. He said the stage would host "concerts, performances, movie nights and community celebrations." The main lot off SOM Center Road was being redesigned with better accessibility and a dedicated food truck lane "to better support large events." New restrooms were planned near the Central Park, the pickleball courts and the event spaces. That same article gave summer 2026 as the target for the Central Park area.
Put those plans next to the Oct. 10 festival. The food trucks were there, but the lane designed for them was not in use. There was live music without the stage, and the crowd sat on hay bales instead of in a finished Central Park. The festival came back to Community Park this year, but it ran on temporary setups because the permanent ones aren't finished.
How an October finish became 2027
The schedule changed over the summer, and the city's own updates show when.
On July 30, Parker told cleveland.com's Chagrin Solon Sun that the redevelopment was about 65 percent complete and on schedule for substantial completion by the end of October. The plan then was to hold the grand opening during the Fall Festival. In the same interview, he named the main cause of the delays residents had already lived through:
"The changes we made to the electrical and drainage systems ended up being the biggest driver of the delays residents have experienced."
He also said the department should have told residents about that unglamorous work sooner. He added that the city chose to keep parts of the park open during construction instead of closing the whole site, which would have meant "no access at all in the meantime."
By Sept. 15, the target had moved. The Sun's Fall Festival preview described the event as "in a transition period" and said organizers expected full use of the park in 2027. Parker put it plainly:
"Honestly, 2026 is a taste of what's to come. Once we have complete access to the park next year, that's when things are really going to take off."
The festival grand opening planned in July did not happen in October. The Sun's Oct. 10 coverage reported that ongoing improvements still limited access to parts of the grounds during the festival. The city has not said which remaining pieces will open first in 2027.
Using the park between now and then
For the rest of the fall, a visit works best if you plan around the construction.
- Park off Portz Parkway. The city's playground reopening notice sent visitors to the Community Park lot through the Portz Parkway entrance. The pickleball ribbon cutting used the Portz Parkway lot too.
- Plan for temporary restrooms. The city's Sept. 2 notice said portable toilets would be available near the playground while the new restroom facilities were under construction.
- Stay outside the fencing. The city calls Community Park an active construction area, with several sections closed off, and asks visitors to use caution. Parker has said closures are "strictly a matter of safety," and the open and closed areas have shifted as work moves around the site.
- Check with Solon Parks and Recreation before a pickleball outing. The city hasn't published hours, reservation rules or a cold-weather schedule for the outdoor courts. The department is the place to confirm before you head out on a chilly November morning.
The playground, the courts and the paved paths are the parts of Community Park you can use right now. The stage, concessions, entry pavilion and Central Park lawn are the parts that will make Parker's "next year" noticeable, and the 2027 Fall Festival will likely be the first event to use them.
If you're curious how Community Park's 2027 finish fits into Solon's day-to-day rhythm, or how features like it shape the streets around it, the team at Christopher Wertz is glad to talk it through, with no pressure and no agenda. Schedule a Consultation whenever it's convenient.
