Romare Bearden Park

Romare Bearden Park is a Mecklenburg County park, so the county’s rules are the park’s rules. The Parks & Recreation Facilities Ordinance makes it unlawful “to have pets in the areas of County parks where pets are expressly prohibited.” Nothing the county publishes puts this park, or any corner of it, on that list. Leashed dogs are allowed across the grounds.

The leash requirement has two sources. County animal ordinance Sec. 3-71 requires physical restraint anywhere off your own property, and Park and Recreation’s own rules set the length: six feet or shorter, waste picked up and binned. The county has also said it about this park directly, once. A Mecklenburg County blog post from June 2019, about the Wednesday evening concerts held here, put it plainly: “your leashed dog is welcome to join you.” That is the only park-specific sentence about dogs the county has published anywhere a reader can reach it.

Off-leash is not legal here. The county’s designated dog parks are the only off-leash ground in Mecklenburg County, and the closest is Ninth Street Dog Park, roughly half a mile north in Fourth Ward, open 7:30 a.m. to sunset.

The water features come with a rule attached. The county’s description of the park lists waterfalls and a misting area that runs in warmer months, and Section 11 of the parks ordinance bars bathing dogs in “the streams, lakes, or other water features of any park.” Playgrounds and athletic field areas are off limits to animals under the same department’s rules.

The park covers just over five acres between Church Street and Mint Street in Third Ward. Truist Field sits directly across Mint on the west edge, so that sidewalk carries the ballpark’s crowd before and after Charlotte Knights home games. The lawn at the center is an event space, in use through the year.

Two things the county doesn’t publish: water fountains or bowls anywhere in the park, and operating hours. Its general information line is 980-314-1000.