Winrock launches free Park Explorers summer program for kids

Winrock Town Center launched a free Park Explorers program this summer, giving children a structured way to spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings outdoors at Winrock Park near Louisiana Boulevard NE and Interstate 40. The sessions ran from June 2 through July 30, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and a parent or guardian had to stay with each child during the program.

The effort was built around Bosque School, with students from the school’s Field and Community Science program and the Cebrin Goodman Environment program leading the activities. Winrock said the program was designed to get kids exploring urban nature around the park, including time near the pond, which gives the two-hour sessions an educational focus as well as a recreational one. Sunward sponsored the program.

For working families in Bernalillo County, the appeal was straightforward: a free, recurring activity in a central Albuquerque location during the long summer break. The schedule, however, also set the limits. Park Explorers met only twice a week, only in the morning, and only with an adult present, which made it most useful for families who could get to Uptown during that window. No transportation service was part of the announcement, and the parent-and-guardian rule made it a shared outing rather than a drop-off camp.

The program also fits into Winrock’s broader effort to recast the property as more than a shopping center. Goodman Realty Group has said plans to revamp the area have been in the works since 2011, and Winrock Park opened with a June 8, 2024 grand-opening celebration. The park was described at opening as a 2-acre public space with a lake, bridge, play area, amphitheater, bar, trails, educational kiosks and room for future markets, concerts and live theater. Another description called it a 2.5-acre green space.

Bosque School has tied its own environmental programming to the project, saying Goodman Realty helped fund the CEBRIN Field and Community Science program and that its students and teachers helped develop Park Explorers. That partnership gives the summer offering a civic sheen, but it also reinforces Winrock’s larger branding push as a retail, hospitality, office and residential destination at the gateway to Uptown Albuquerque. For some families, Park Explorers filled a real summer need. For Winrock, it strengthened the case that the property is becoming a neighborhood gathering place, not just a place to shop.