Best of Austin®

Best Place to Cool Your Heels on a Saturday Night

Carpenter Fountain, Wells Meadow, and Sahm Hill

Best Place to Cool Your Heels on a Saturday Night
Sandy Carson

More precisely a family section of the newly designated Butler District Park, the area features a meadow, a circular climb (or run!) observation hill overlooking Lady Bird Lake and Downtown, and a magically programmed fountain which plays with children (and braver grownups) like a whimsical home sprinkler system designed by Willie Wonka. For the scholarly, it comes with its own homemade history: The fountain is named after writer and Lady Bird confidant Liz Carpenter, the meadow for local Negro League Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Wells, and the observation hill for Texas music legend Doug Sahm. When the kids are blissfully soaked and exhausted, you can tell them all about Liz, Willie, and Doug.