Anthem town, near Phoenix

star star star star star
Arizona
Anthem town, near Phoenix
pinit
11 likes

Anthem is a suburban town with a huge community park. Here, a manmade lake, some gorgeous desert landscaping, and a mini-train to ride surround a huge playground. You've never seen a playground quite like this one! Wow! The enclosed slides are massive. They are so much fun! Weeeeee! You go round and round! Watch out for the tallest slide- it can give you quite an elbow burn at the end! The playground is enclosed in mesh so your kids are safe as they climb, climb, climb! It's an amazing place!

Adjacent to the huge playground is a splash pad. From May to October, fresh clean water sprays out from the dolphins, elephants, and other animals. I like this splash pad better than the others in Phoenix because it is not chlorinated. Kids love to get wet here. Periodically, the spray stops and your kids get to touch the outline of a hand on a post to start it again. It's a lot of fun! The sprays sometimes surprise you and come from nowhere! During the endless months (May until end of October) of hideous weather, it's the ONLY place to play without dying of heat exposure! Come early, because by 10am it's too hot even at the splash pad. At night after 8pm, unfortunately, it's closed, as is the playground. That's a shame, since it dips down to 109 degrees at night and it might be more pleasant then!
At the Community Park, there are steam train rides you can take around the extensive park with its lake and ball fields. The steam train costs $3.50 each. I found the train to be a bit fumey, but fun to do once.
Further down Anthem Way, on Freedom Way, is the Community Center. Here, there is a games room, workout equipment, an olympic-sized pool, and an awesome waterpark! If you aren't a resident, you can pay a fee to enter but you must find a friend who lives in Anthem to take you as their guest. The waterpark has two huge slides. You ascend stairs up high and then slide down. The enclosed slide is a wilder ride than the open-air one. You can take blowup tubes from the foot of the stairs up with you and slide down the open-air slide on them. Below the huge slides is a splash playground. Kids can shoot waterguns, run under fountains, and climb up a playground. There's a massive bucket that drops a heavy wall of water down every few minutes to kids' screaming delight! Around the playground, it's shallow and you can sit in the water under an umbrella as if you're at the beach. The chlorine is very strong here- it dyed black swimmers to a pale grey almost instantly, so don't keep babies in it for long.
There are bike trails in Anthem that take you through natural desert washes. Washes are the areas where the desert naturally drains and forms rivers during heavy rains. You can bike past saguaro cactus, teddy bear chollas, and flowering yellow, orange, and purple bushes. Watch for the cute little white bushy-tailed desert bunnies. They are everywhere! You can also see woodpeckers perched in holes high up in the cactus. In spring it's particularly lovely to walk or bike in the washes in Anthem. In summer, there are hundreds of biting ants so skip biking in summer. Also, there really are daisies in spring covering Daisy Mountain above.
On weekend evenings in May, there are live concerts at the Community Park's outdoor amphitheater, near the lake. Kids have a blast running around in the warm night air. Vendors sell glow sticks. It's a lot of fun! If you're hungry, head over to the Anthem Country Club. You can eat there looking out the huge windows on gorgeous saguaro cactus and desert below. The view from the bar is best and you can order the same food from there. I like the quesadillas, but overall, the food is too salty and not very consistent. Also, men need to wear a collar shirt to get in.
On a personal note, how do I know so much about Anthem? We lived there for 9 months because we wanted to own a house of our own, but then we moved back to California to be renters once again. Why did we move back? The summer was too stark and hot. At midnight it's still 115 degrees! And the summer heat continues until Halloween! Getting into your car during the day can be excruciating. And there's no covered parking most places, even at the mall- this is craziness! Also, everyone's garbage smells REALLY bad after being outside in the 117 degree heat all day and night, so from June to October there's no such thing as a breath of fresh air. Add to that the ash from all the wildfires that blows at you in wild dust storms. Lightning storms don't include rain in Arizona, so that forecast of lightning that looks so promising is actually not a break from the heat. It's just a dust storm blowing around ash, and some heavy lightning strikes that start fires that spread wildly over the mountain right above your home. I must say, though, that the lightning storms in summer are incredibly beautiful and alarming. They are a wonderful spectacle! Sunsets are also glorious- what a bright orange sky!
During summer there's nothing to do but listen to the dim hum of your AC unit, and stare at the stark brown wall that separates your home from the home next door that looks exactly the same as yours.
Getting out of Anthem for a change of scene feels dangerous because the i-17 is a two-lane (per side) highway with a very high speed limit and frequent white crosses along the side of the road.

Continue to directions...

Winter sunsets are out of this world in Arizona- like a fire in the sky!

A saguaro cactus with woodpecker pirched atop.

Cholla bush, with yellow bristlebush in the background, as seen from the wash.

The landscaping around the playgrounds is very pretty in Anthem.

Brightest yellow flowers everywhere in early April!

Mid-summer sunset, on an 113 degree evening.

July lightning storm- see the power!

Summer evening at the lake.

Basketball courts on a summer evening.

The skatepark.

The clocktower.

Rock-climbing area of the playground, at night.

The splash pad in the evening.

Having fun at the splash pad after sundown.

Ladybug bouncy.

Bumblebee bouncy.

The huge community playground.

Space net.

Kids enjoying the spinner.

The ground under the play structure is the nice spongy stuff.

Umbrellas at the splash pad.

One of the many neighborhood playgrounds.

Directions

To get to the Community Park with huge playground and splash pad, take Freeway 17 north from Phoenix. Exit at Anthem Way. Turn right. Continue past the nice waterfall entrance area. Turn right on Gavilan Peak Pkwy. Turn left into the first parking area for the park.
To get to the waterpark, exit at Anthem Way. Turn right. Turn right on Freedom Way. Park in the parking lot to your right. Anthem Community Center (waterpark) address is 41130 N. Freedom Way, Anthem AZ 85086, call (623) 879-3011.
To get to a nice, small playground, exit at Daisy Mountain. Turn right. Turn right on Hastings Way. Turn left on Copper Basin Trail. Park along the road on your left when you see the playground.
To get to a bike trail, exit at Daisy Mountain. Turn right. Turn right on Hastings and park. The trail begins back on Daisy Mountain Rd, just after Hastings. It goes up to the Copper Creek playground.
Another set of trails begin at a playground off of Patagonia Way. Exit at Daisy Mountain. Turn right onto Hastings. Turn right onto Tangle Ridge Way. It curves to the left and becomes Lewis and Clark trail. Turn right on Patagonia Way. Turn left into the first dead end where there is a playground. A paved bike trail leads to the right from the playground.
To get to the Country Club, exit at Anthem Way. Turn right. Turn left on Country Club Dr. Stop at the booth and tell them you've come to have lunch. Follow the road up and follow the signs to the Country Club. Notice the gorgeous landscaping along the way. Anthem Country Club address is 2708 W. Anthem Alub Dr, Anthem AZ 85086, call (623) 742-6200.
Cost to enter the waterpark is $6 per person, children 6 and under are free. But you must be accompanied by an Anthem resident. The waterpark is open until 8pm in the Summer, until 6pm on Sundays. Call (623) 879-3000.
Entrance to the Community Park with Adventure Playground is free. There are restrooms and drinking fountains.

map

Click on map for interactive view

Comments

Add your comments
star star star star star

Ed

Tue, 13 Jul 2010

Choice pic!

star star star star star

Phil

Thu, 15 Oct 2009

boring little burb, nothing really compelling about it. The parks are okay, definitely better than others throughout Phx.

star star star star star

Jake and Karen

Sun, 20 Sep 2009

Late evening today, while walking the wash, the sky turned an orange-pink on blue that I had never seen before, rabbits skittering by, birds, ants, very nice

star star star star star

AnthemIsGreat

Mon, 02 Feb 2015

I've been here since 2002 and can assure everyone that this review is over the top. Yes, I-17 has car accidents but folks don't drive 85 mph without a ticket. Police are in force here. We have our own fire station and sheriff department in Anthem. Although not perfect, it is safe.

As for Phoenix culture.. there isn't that much to experience. We go on occasion and have no troubles getting into the city. In fact, my husband drives 45 minutes to Scottsdale each day and has not had an accident. However, going North at rush hour on Memorial Day weekend during rush hour is not recommended. But please tell me the city that is void of this problem. Folks go North or head to the beaches in CA.

The houses are similar in look, I'll give you that. Choose the neighborhood wisely. Some are nicer than others.

It's a great place to live. Neighbors care about each other.

star star star star star

BB

Fri, 29 Jan 2010

Bautiful cacti, beautiful country club.

Last Updated: Thu, 22 Sep 2016 22:03:17 GMT

Text and Image copyright: © 2006-2024 LotsaFunMaps.com.
Copying prohibited. Contact the editor | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
Blog | The Official Mug | Privacy Settings | About Us