What Are These Poles At A Popular Boise Park Made For?

Taking the kids to the park is one of the best things you can do with them outside. Boise, especially, is known for having some incredible parks for families to enjoy and one of the more popular parks is Esther Simplot Park.

A beautiful space to play

The kids love Esther Simplot Park as much as the parents do. The ground is safe for kids to fall on, the scenery is beautiful, and the kids can tire themselves out in a safe environment.

However, one feature of the park has some people scratching their heads.

It's these colored poles.

While sure, kids are going to come up with whatever they can and play regardless, but what are they actually designed for?

Many people shared their guesses in one Reddit thread, and there was a funny response or two.

"That's the adult section of the park. For the strippers ya know?" wrote one Reddit user.

On the more cynical side, someone theorized: "Some 'artist' got paid way too much for that."

Another said that the park was required to add these colored poles.

"Public art requirement in parks. Also it is a playground," they shared.

We contacted Boise Parks And Rec and spoke to two amazing individuals in Chelsea (we didn't get a last name, sorry, Chelsea!) and Doug Holloway to see if we could get an answer.

As it turns out, both Chelsea and Doug of Boise confirmed that they're not stripper poles. Rather, it was an idea that came from the Simplot family as they wanted to make sure it was included.

"They were interested in having something different that stands out, is colorful, and kids can play with it," Doug said.

"One of the things we like to do is to stimulate interpretative play," Chelsea said of the structure.

Doug also dived into how the parks around town are designed to contain "natural play features" and pointed out the rock slide at Simplot Park as an example.

He also added that Veterans Park is looking to add "logs", "boulders", and more "rocks" next year that are safe for kids to play with and use their imaginations on.

So, there you have it! The poles at Esther Simplot Park are for your kids to do one thing: use their imagination.