Wailoa River State Recreation Area spreads along both banks of the short, spring-fed Wailoa River between downtown and the Banyan Drive peninsula — open lawns, arched footbridges, fishponds, and a resident population of waterbirds. The park's most photographed feature is the gilded King Kamehameha statue on its northern edge, a four-tonne bronze of the king who launched his conquest of the islands from Hilo's shore.
It is a place for a stroll rather than a destination in itself, but it carries more history than most city parks: the Shinmachi Tsunami Memorial and the Vietnam War memorial both stand here, and the Wailoa Center gallery hosts rotating exhibitions by Big Island artists. The park connects on foot to the Hilo Farmers Market in one direction and Liliuokalani Gardens in the other, so you are likely to cross it anyway — slow down when you do.