Echo Dale is the city's main summer destination — a couple of small lakes carved out of an old gravel pit, with sand beaches, swimming areas roped off in the lake, paddleboat rental, and a network of picnic shelters under cottonwoods. It can get busy on hot July weekends.
Within the park there is also a small heritage farm with restored buildings and seasonal animal pens, and the surface workings of an old coal mine — a reminder that this corner of Alberta was working a different fuel before the gas boom. There is an admission fee in summer; the park is free and open in the off-season, when the lakes freeze and become decent skating ice.