If you are looking for something to do with the whole family (fur children included), look no further than Bar K! The newly opened restaurant and dog park located toward the east side of Riversport Adventure Park, is the perfect place to spend all day with loads of activities for everyone.
My crew and I headed out at about noon on a Saturday, and it was already busy! We quickly snagged a table in the restaurant area, which is separated by a fence from the main dog park. There’s a great menu of options including our restaurant essentials: coffee and kid food. My family loved watching dogs run and play while they finished their snacks. There was a musician on stage playing live music which added a really fun and relaxed vibe.
Even if you don’t have a furry friend in tow, you are still welcome at Bar K. Unfortunately our precious pup passed away recently, and we are thinking about what kind of dog might be a good fit for our family with two young kids. This actually made visiting Bar K the perfect activity, because we were able to watch dogs of all kinds interact with our kids, with other people and with other dogs too. We could watch their energy levels, friendliness and playfulness. The whole 2-acre park is professionally staffed, so if any dogs got too rowdy or approached our kids in a rough way, the attendants pulled the dogs away.
A German Shepherd rescue group was there at the same time as us. There are weekly adoption events at Bar K in a dedicated “rescue park” on the south side of the space. It’s such a nice way to meet a potential new friend away from the “high energy” of the regular park. Numerous other upcoming events were posted throughout the venue as well, including “breed meetups” which sounds like a lovely and hilarious time!
Now if you know the Holder family, you know we love a good doggie birthday celebration. Bar K just so happens to host doggie birthday parties *cue the AWWWW!* They provide a special room where all the pup friends can gather, personalized birthday treats from Bone Bakery, party supplies like pup hats and other decorations, catering for the humans, and even an on-site “dogtender” to make sure nothing gets too wild. I die!
After visiting Bar K, everything at Riversport is accessible by sidewalk. Next time we visit, we will be bringing my son’s bike, since Bar K is directly next to the kids’ pump track. There were several kids riding through the track on balance bikes, which was so fun to watch! Right across the street is the whitewater course, as well as the Youth Zone. There is definitely enough to make a whole day of outdoor fun for every member of the family.
Kirsten Holder is a transplant from Michigan but calls the “land that is grand” her home. She graduated from Oklahoma City University and is passionate about the arts, community development and small business. She is the senior project manager for MetroFamily Magazine, and lives in a historic pocket of OKC with her young kids Jimmy and Millie, and husband Andrew.
