Alan Shepard Park, Cocoa Beach

Alan Shepard Park is a City of Cocoa Beach oceanfront park on East Cocoa Beach Causeway, open 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day of the week.

The City of Cocoa Beach facility page gives the address as 299 East Cocoa Beach Cswy, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931, lists the same 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM hours for weekdays, Saturday and Sunday, and names Leisure Services at 321-868-3258 as the contact (Alan Shepard Park facility page). The city's parking page lists the park under beach access parking as Alan Shepard Park at 216 E. Cocoa Beach Causeway instead (Cocoa Beach Parking Information). Both are City of Cocoa Beach pages, and neither explains the difference.

The contact number differs too. The Beach Access Parks page tells Cocoa Beach visitors to call the Leisure Services Department at 321 868-3252 (Cocoa Beach Beach Access Parks), while the facility page lists 321-868-3258. That page also lists Alan Shepard Park and Sidney Fischer Park under the parks Cocoa Beach operates, and Lori Wilson Park and Robert P. Murkshe Memorial Park as oceanfront parks operated and maintained by Brevard County.

Parking at Alan Shepard Park costs $6 per hour with a one-hour minimum or $25 for a full day, and a Cocoa Beach annual parking permit does not cover it.

The Cocoa Beach Parking Information page sets one rate for city parking: $6 per hour (minimum of 1 hour) or $25 for the full day, plus a $0.35 convenience fee when paying in the app. Enforcement runs daily from 7 AM to 7 PM, weekends and holidays included, and all city parking is paid through the Passport Parking App by entering the zone and space number. The city warns that payment must be completed as soon as the car is parked to avoid a citation (Cocoa Beach Parking Information).

The city sells resident permits for $20, non-resident permits for $75 and business permits for $30, valid January 1 to December 31, but states that these permits cannot be used at Shepard Park and the 22 N. Atlantic Ave Lot (Cocoa Beach Parking Permits). The Shepard Park facility page adds that parking fees for Shepard Park apply (Alan Shepard Park facility page).

The Cocoa Beach parking page says vehicles displaying a valid handicap placard or license plate may park at no cost in designated spaces, with accessible parking available throughout the city (Cocoa Beach Parking Information). The facility page counts 300 parking spaces available for automobiles and recreational vehicles (Alan Shepard Park facility page). Overnight parking is not permitted in city-managed parking areas, and parking questions go to the Cocoa Beach Finance office at (321) 868-3295 (Cocoa Beach Parking Information). The Cocoa Beach beach parking and fees guide compares the other city lots and street ends.

Alan Shepard Park has 10 large picnic pavilions, covered picnic tables, a children's playground, restrooms, showers, beach rentals and beach access on 5 acres.

The City of Cocoa Beach facility page lists the park's features as beach access, pavilion, picnic tables, playground, restrooms, security and showers, and its longer list adds the 10 large picnic pavilions, covered picnic tables and beach rentals (Alan Shepard Park facility page). The same page describes Shepard Park as surrounded by popular retail shops within easy walking distance, and the Beach Access Parks page repeats that access to many popular tourist related retail shops is within easy walking distance of Alan Shepard Park (Cocoa Beach Beach Access Parks). The same page lists Sidney Fischer Park, the other city-operated oceanfront park, as a 10-acre park with roughly 200 parking spaces.

The City of Cocoa Beach facility page does not publish a pavilion reservation fee or booking form for Shepard Park, so pavilion questions belong with Cocoa Beach Leisure Services at the numbers above.

Yes: Brevard County Ocean Rescue keeps a full-time lifeguard tower at Shepard Park, staffed daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Brevard County lists Shepard Park among its full-time towers, with the Cocoa Beach Pier, Lori Wilson Park, Minutemen Causeway and Paradise/Futch Park in North Indialantic, all operating daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The county describes a year-round program of approximately 90 part-time lifeguards, 26 full-time lifeguards and 3 full-time supervisors, with seasonal towers added starting the last week of May (Brevard County Ocean Rescue Services). The City of Cocoa Beach says it works in coordination with Brevard County Ocean Rescue and lists Alan Shepard Park first among its full-time towers (Cocoa Beach Beach Safety).

The park hours and the tower hours are not the same: the facility page lists Shepard Park as open 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM (Alan Shepard Park facility page), while the county lists the full-time tower hours as 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Cocoa Beach Beach Safety page advises swimmers to swim near a lifeguard (Cocoa Beach Beach Safety).

The Cocoa Beach Beach Safety page explains the flag colors flown on the beach: double red means the water is closed to the public, red marks high hazard with strong currents and dangerous surf, yellow is medium hazard, green is low hazard with calm conditions, and purple warns of dangerous marine life such as jellyfish or stingrays. The same Cocoa Beach page links the National Weather Service beach forecast for current flag conditions and says rip currents are common in Cocoa Beach (Cocoa Beach Beach Safety). Day-of surf and rip current conditions are covered in the Cocoa Beach surf conditions and rip currents guide.

The Cocoa Beach beach guidelines ban glass, beach fires, fireworks and overnight camping on the beach, limit shade tents to 10 ft by 10 ft, and allow dogs only on the designated dog beach.

The City of Cocoa Beach quick reference answers the common questions directly: glass is not allowed on the beach, fireworks are prohibited, overnight camping is not allowed, and beach fires are a no because permits are currently unavailable. Fishing from the beach is allowed when Florida fishing regulations are followed (Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines). Umbrellas, canopies and shade tents are welcome within a 10 ft by 10 ft size limit, kept away from dune lines, turtle nest zones and pathways, and removed before leaving the beach.

The city allows dogs only in the designated dog beach area, which it places between 4th Street South and the north side of Robert P. Murkshe Park, on a leash no longer than 10 feet, with dog beach hours of 6 to 10 AM and 4 to 7 PM in standard time and 6 to 10 AM and 5 to 9 PM in daylight saving time (Cocoa Beach Beach Guidelines). The same Cocoa Beach page asks beachgoers to give sea turtles, marine animals and birds plenty of space and gives the local nesting season as March 1 to October 31.

Yes, with a city permit: Cocoa Beach suggests Alan Shepard Park as one of three oceanfront parks for beach ceremonies, and a small wedding needs a Beach Wedding Permit.

The Cocoa Beach Weddings and Special Events page says all events on City property require approval. A private ceremony of 50 guests or fewer, held on Cocoa Beach or city-owned park spaces with minimal setup such as arches, chairs and small decor, and with no vendors, amplified sound or road closures, uses the Beach Wedding Permit. Larger, public or high-impact events need a Special Events Permit instead (Cocoa Beach Weddings and Special Events). For ceremony locations the city suggests three oceanfront parks with restrooms and easy parking access: Alan Shepard Park, Lori Wilson Park and Sidney Fischer Park, out of 6 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches in Cocoa Beach.

The parking rules do not change for a ceremony on any city page read for this guide: annual permits cannot be used at Shepard Park (Cocoa Beach Parking Permits), and the city's events staff answer permit and planning questions at 321-868-3252 (Cocoa Beach Weddings and Special Events).

The park honors Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and the City of Cocoa Beach says it provides an excellent view of space launches.

NASA's mission page for Mercury-Redstone 3, Freedom 7, records the first U.S. human spaceflight on May 5, 1961, piloted by Alan Shepard, launched at 9:34am EST from launch pad LC-5 and lasting 15 minutes, 28 seconds, with a reported altitude of 116.5 statute miles and a distance of 303 statute miles (NASA, Mercury-Redstone 3: Freedom 7). The City of Cocoa Beach history page dates the same flight to May 6, 1961, and says the flight made Alan Shepard the first American to travel into space and that many people watched the launch from the beaches of Cocoa Beach (Cocoa Beach History at a Glance). The two official sources give different dates for the same flight.

The crowds kept coming. The Cocoa Beach history page says that in 1962 more than 75,000 people came to Cocoa Beach to see Friendship 7, with astronaut John Glenn, orbit the Earth (Cocoa Beach History at a Glance). Today the facility page still sells the park on its launch view (Alan Shepard Park facility page), but it does not publish launch dates.

Last verified: October 21, 2026, against the Shepard Park facility listing, the Cocoa Beach parking, permit, beach safety, beach guideline, wedding and history pages, the Brevard County Ocean Rescue tower list and NASA's Freedom 7 mission record.