Parque Mutirama is one of the oldest amusement parks in Brazil, opened in 1952 as a public leisure facility for the young city of Goiânia. It occupies a large plot in the northern part of the central area, with a lake, a small zoo, gardens, and a collection of rides that range from genuinely old-fashioned to recently upgraded. Admission is free, which has always been the point — the park was designed as popular infrastructure, not a commercial attraction.
The park retains a pleasantly unhurried, working-class character. Families with small children are the primary visitors; weekend afternoons see the grounds fill with picnics and football kickabouts on the grass. The small zoo holds native cerrado species, including giant anteaters, maned wolves, and various birds — a reasonable introduction to the fauna of central Brazil that is hard to see elsewhere in the city. For a visitor, Mutirama offers a window into Goianian everyday life that the upmarket Setor Marista does not.