The baseball diamond at Owl's Nest Park could get its biggest makeover in decades, with two Cincinnati Reds supporter organizations positioning themselves as major donors for the 121-year-old park's renovation.
The Reds Community Fund and the Rosie Reds are working to raise money for a ballfield upgrade at Owl's Nest Park, located at 1984 Madison Road, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Aug. 20. The Enquirer report suggests the Rosie Reds may seek naming rights for the field as part of their contribution.
The ballfield work is one piece of a larger $4.1 million renovation plan called Owl's Nest Park 2.0, which the Cincinnati Parks Foundation has described as centered on restoring the park's historic pavilion and completing parkwide improvements shaped by community input.
A park at the crossroads
Owl's Nest Park sits where East Walnut Hills, Evanston and O'Bryonville meet, just blocks from Mount Lookout. Charles E. and Edward C. Perkins donated the land to the city in 1905 in honor of their parents. The pavilion, designed by Cincinnati firm Elzner & Anderson, was dedicated in 1933 as a pool and field house overlooking a swimming pool and the baseball field.
The pool closed in the 1990s. The pavilion was shuttered and fell into disrepair. In 2021, when the city considered demolishing the aging structure, the Owl's Nest Park Advisory Council joined with the East Walnut Hills Assembly, Friends of Evanston Park and the O'Bryonville Business Association to fight the plan, saving the building.
Fundraising and next steps
The full renovation plan includes historic preservation of the pavilion's brick facade, arches and roofline, along with accessible restrooms, an ADA parking space, concrete pathways, a plaza and stage for community events, and upgraded lighting, landscaping and entrances.
A fundraising update posted on social media indicated $2 million in private funding has been raised so far, with an additional $2.1 million expected to be matched within 18 months. Those figures have not been independently confirmed by Cincinnati Parks.
Cincinnati Parks held a community engagement session on April 23 specifically to discuss the ballfield portion of the project. Partners at that session included Cincinnati Parks, the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, the Reds Community Fund, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and the Cincinnati Recreation Foundation.
The Reds Community Fund, established in 2001, has financially supported renovations to youth baseball fields across the Cincinnati area since 2006. The Rosie Reds, founded in 1964 to boost attendance and keep the team in Cincinnati, is a philanthropic organization whose name stands for Rooters Organized to Stimulate Interest and Enthusiasm in the Cincinnati Reds.
"What did we do when we were kids? We went to the park!" Marye Ward, an Evanston Community Council member, said in a March 2025 Cincinnati Parks Foundation profile of Owl's Nest Park, describing the green space's significance to surrounding neighborhoods.
No construction start date or completion timeline has been publicly announced.
At the park
Owl's Nest Park hosts free Tai Chi and mindfulness classes on the third Wednesday of each month at noon, offered through Cincinnati Parks and Rec for Wellness in partnership with the University of Cincinnati's Osher Center for Integrative Health. The next session falls Sept. 16.
