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Home / Wheaton Regional Park / Shine Brighter Together – Social Story: Autism Acceptance Month

Shine Brighter Together – Social Story: Autism Acceptance Month

Arriving

When you arrive, you will see a large sign directing you to the event. Go around the circle behind the brown sign and to your left.
The event is closest to the large playground with the big yellow slides. 

wheaton regional park sign
event branding shine brighter together autism acceptance month

 Parking 

There is plenty of parking at Wheaton Regional Park and an overflow gravel lot to the right of Wheaton Station.
Accessible parking is available in the main parking lot.

parking lot wheaton regional park
parking lot wheaton regional park

Getting Around the Event

We have a wheelchair accessible shuttle cart to help you get from your vehicle to the different activities at the event.

Please call 301-495-2581 if you need to be picked up. We will also be driving around looking for people who may need assistance.

There are several fully accessible paved trails throughout the park. Our Access on Wheels trailer holds walkers, wheelchairs, and supplies for your service animal if you have one.

Accessible Golf Card from Program Access Montgomery Parks
walkways at wheaton Regional Park
trailer holding program access walkers, wheelchairs

Map of Activities and Performances

This map shows you where at the park the activities will be located and includes the names of the resources available to learn more about. Most are located along the Pine Lake Trail that winds through the park.

Bathrooms

There are flushable, accessible bathrooms near the parking lot, across from the outdoor fitness equipment. These bathrooms have automatic flushers and motion censored hand dryers. You may want to use headphones if you don’t like the sound of the flushing and/or bring your own paper towels if you don’t like the sound of the dryers.

wheaton regional park bathroom, toilet
wheaton regional park hand dryer
wheaton regional park sink bathroom

Food Concessions

Fly Pizza will be selling food from their food truck on site and will be in the parking lot. Clayboys will also be selling shaved ice.

Link to Fly Pizza menu: https://fly-pizza-llc.square.site/

Link to Clayboys menu: https://clayboysbethesda.com/menu

Families are also welcome to bring snacks and picnic meals to enjoy during the event.

food trucks fly pizza
food trucks clayboys shave ice
family sitting on the ground having a picnic

Interactive Activities

You can participate in free activities like face or hand painting, Ga-Ga Ball, fitness activities, arts and crafts, coloring, sidewalk chalk, and many more throughout the event.

hand and face painint activity
indoor ball pit
exercise station at wheaton regional park

Other Activities – Buddy Benches

You can help us decorate and paint our Buddy Benches and pledge to be a buddy to all. These benches will be placed at Montgomery Parks once completed.

buddy benches
paint bottles to decorate the bench buddies

Additional Activities

You will be able to participate in more passive activities as well like playing in the adventure playground, applying temporary tattoos, and saying hello to our Park Police horses. The playground includes adaptive swings, infant and toddler swings, a tot lot with a sand pit, climbing obstacles and more.

park police on a horse
kids hanging out at the park
children being read to in the park
playgournd
swings at the playground

Performers and Mascots

At Pavillion B there will be multi-sensory storytelling. This is also where you can stop by to say hello to our mascots, Otus the Owl and T-Rex. These are friendly people who wear costumes. You can choose to say hello, take a picture with them, or walk away from them when you see them.

owl mascot
turtle mascot

Sensory Retreat Tent

“There will be a lot of people at the park on the day of the event. If you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, please visit our “Sensory Retreat Tent” that will be located near the bathrooms. The tent is a quiet space where you can relax, play with our fidgets and get away from the larger group.

We encourage you to bring your own noise reduction headphones if you have them.

sensory retreat hand held toys
sensory retreat tent

Other Activities at Wheaton Regional Park

“The Ovid Hazen Wells Carousel is open.  Tickets are $3.50.

You can also check out the “Eye Spy Trains” – A great family activity where you can search for characters along the tracks. Tickets are $5.

Tickets are available for both activities online at activemontgomery.org. We recommend buying tickets in advance. “

ovid hazen carousel
entrance to ovid hazen carousel

Keep our Park Clean

Help take care of our park by using trash cans and recycling bins appropriately.

trash cans at wheaton regional park
thank you for visiting wheaton regional park

Additional Information and Services

For questions regarding accessibility, contact the Program Access office at 301-495-2581 or
ProgramAccess@MontgomeryParks.org.