For two summers running, the crane at Leo Ryan Park has been the most visible thing at the water's edge. Most residents know what it's there for: the new Recreation Center, replacing a 1974 building that had been showing its age for a decade. What's less obvious is how the construction rearranged everything around it — and why the lagoon season that just opened feels different from the ones before it.
The short version is that a two-year gap in the park's anchor facility pushed the summer programming into a tighter, more concentrated format. The Wednesday nights are louder, the water vendors are busier, and the daytime park calendar is carrying weight it didn't used to carry. That's the summer you're in right now.
The Construction That Explains Everything Else
The Foster City Recreation Center at 650 Shell Blvd closed in late 2024 to make way for a full rebuild. The original building was nearly 50 years old, with structural deficiencies, water leakage problems, and outdated emergency shelter accommodations that had been flagged since at least 2016. The city awarded the construction contract to BHM Construction, with Griffin Structures handling project management and Group 4 Architecture on design.
As of March 2026, the project was approximately 65 percent complete, according to Parks and Recreation Director Derek Schweigart, and the new facility is expected to open sometime this summer. When it does, it will offer fitness and dance studios, arts and ceramics spaces, senior programming rooms, and flexible event halls — a significantly larger footprint than what it replaced.
Until then, the park is operating around the construction zone. That has two practical effects for anyone using Leo Ryan Park this summer.
Fourth of July fireworks are canceled again. The April 28 announcement from the city cited limited space and the inability to safely accommodate large nighttime crowds near an active construction site. This is the second consecutive year the fireworks show has been postponed. Daytime Independence Day events are still on: a Rotary Club pancake breakfast, live music, and a Family & Dog Parade — all wrapping by 4 p.m.
Parking for Off the Grid has moved. The Wednesday night food truck marketplace can no longer use the Recreation Center lot. Current parking is along Shell Blvd., in the City Hall lot, and at 1065 E. Hillsdale Blvd. across from Fire Station 65. Plan an extra five minutes.
What's Running on the Water
The lagoon itself is unchanged. It winds roughly five miles through the city, covers more than 200 acres of surface water, and sits at its summer operating level — the city raises the water around mid-March each year. No gas or diesel engines are allowed; the speed limit is 5 mph for all vessels. What that means in practice is a quieter, slower stretch of water than almost anywhere else on the Peninsula, and a set of rental operations built specifically around it.
At the Leo Ryan Park boathouse, on the south end of the park behind the VIBE Teen Center:
- California Windsurfing offers windsurfing lessons and rents kayaks, pedal boats, and stand-up paddleboards. Swim buoys can also be borrowed at no cost at the boathouse for open-water swims.
- Edgewater Marine rents and services Duffy Electric Boats — the quiet, flat-bottomed electric skiffs that move at lagoon speed without generating wake.
At Baywinds Park, on the bay side of the city:
- The Kite School and Wind Over Water both run kiteboard lessons, equipment rentals, and demos. Wind conditions on the bay side are consistently stronger than on the lagoon, which is what makes that stretch the right spot for it.
Two public boat ramps are open at Boat Park on Bounty Drive and at Leo Ryan Park on Shell Blvd. Small boats can launch from any point along the lagoon edge.
Also returning for the 2026 season: Kiddos ChuChu, the trackless train that runs around the west end of Leo Ryan Park from May 2 through October 31. It operates across from the Metro Shopping Center on E. Hillsdale Blvd.
Wednesday Nights at Leo Ryan Park
The clearest evidence that the park has reorganized itself around the construction is what Off the Grid has become here.
Off the Grid: Foster City runs every Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Leo Ryan Park from April through October — with one exception: the August 12 marketplace is canceled to prepare for the Foster City Summer Days event. The format is a rotating lineup of food trucks alongside live music, with Adirondack chairs set out in the park meadow. It's been running here long enough that regulars have their orders figured out, but the rotation means each week has a different set of vendors.
The construction-related parking shift is real but manageable once you know where to go. Shell Blvd. and the City Hall lot are the easiest options if you're coming from the north side of the park; 1065 E. Hillsdale works better from the Hillsdale corridor.
Wednesday nights at the lagoon with a food truck and live music have always been part of Foster City's summer routine. Right now, with the Recreation Center out of commission and the park's normal gathering infrastructure compressed, those evenings are carrying more of the neighborhood's social calendar than usual.
The Events That Mark the Season
Beyond the weekly rhythm, a few set-piece events use the lagoon as their stage.
The Water Lantern Festival returns to the lagoon at Leo Ryan Park — an evening event built around floating illuminated lanterns on the water, with food trucks and music. It's run by an outside organizer, not the city, and registration opens separately at the event's own site.
The Head of the Lagoon, hosted by the Redwood Scullers, brings rowing competition to the Foster City waterway. It's a spectator-friendly event by design, drawing families to the lagoon edge in a way that differs from the usual recreational use.
The Foster City Summer Days festival in August closes out the middle of the season and accounts for the one Wednesday when Off the Grid goes dark.
What Changes When the Recreation Center Opens
The new facility will be a different kind of anchor than the one it replaced. Griffin Structures describes it as designed to support "small, medium, and large-scale classes, meetings and events" alongside fitness, dance, arts and ceramics, and senior programming — a broader mandate than the original center carried.
Its adjacency to the lagoon was flagged during construction planning as a complicating factor; the site required coordination around the water's edge in ways a standard inland construction project wouldn't. That complexity is nearly behind the city now.
Separately, a preliminary review application is on file with the city for a new outdoor pavilion at 1065 E. Hillsdale Blvd., at the southwest corner of Foster City Blvd. and E. Hillsdale. The proposal covers roughly 6,000 square feet of stand-alone pavilion space with three restaurant and retail kiosks, open on two sides — a structure designed to serve the office campus at that corner as an amenity. That project is still in early review, not yet approved, but it's worth noting given where it sits relative to the park.
The summer of 2026 at the Foster City lagoon is a specific moment: the construction is nearly done, the water activities are running, Off the Grid is weekly, and the neighborhood is operating around a gap that's about to close. If you've been waiting for the park to come back fully, you're almost there.
If you're thinking about what's next for your home on the Peninsula, Julie Flouty knows this market in detail. Let's connect.
