Liberty Park — Palm Bay, Florida

Liberty Park, at 895 Carlyle Ave SE in southeast Palm Bay, is a lighted city sports park with softball fields, basketball courts, a roller skating rink, a new hockey rink, pavilions and a playground.

The City of Palm Bay facility directory lists the park at 895 Carlyle Ave SE, Palm Bay, FL 32909, with the phone number (321) 952-3443 (City of Palm Bay facility directory). Park hours are 7am until 10pm. The amenity list includes lighted basketball courts, a lighted roller skating rink, lighted softball fields, covered bleachers, pavilions, picnic tables, grills, a playground, restrooms, water fountains, mature shade trees, nature study trails and free Wi-Fi.

Dogs are welcome on the grounds, with one firm limit. The Liberty Park listing calls it a pet friendly park but says animals are not allowed on any of the athletic fields (Liberty Park listing).

The address sits inside the city. The U.S. Census Bureau geocoder places 895 Carlyle Ave SE in Palm Bay city, Brevard County, census tract 713.41 (Census Bureau geocoder). Park questions go to the Palm Bay Parks & Facilities Department at (321) 726-2777, the contact number on the city's Liberty Park news releases (City of Palm Bay news).

The new professional-size hockey rink at Liberty Park opened to the public on Saturday, October 3, 2026, for open skating, roller hockey, futsal, box lacrosse and pickleball.

The city announced the opening on October 2, 2026, together with the reopening of Driskell Park (City of Palm Bay, October 2, 2026). Currently, only court lines are provided, and residents may bring their own portable nets and equipment for recreational play. The rink's north-facing gates stay open for general public access. The south gate stays locked but may be opened for scheduled rentals and special events.

Rink skating at the park has a volunteer history. In his September 2023 message, Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina thanked Liberty Park Roller Hockey and Space Coast Street Hockey Inc. for repairing the skating rink at Liberty Park (September 2023 Mayor's Message). The same message credits the Parks & Facilities Department with replacing the Liberty Park basketball courts and removing about 1,000 linear feet of old sidewalk for new concrete.

The pickleball use is notable in Palm Bay. At the April 7, 2026 Recreation Advisory Board meeting, a USA Pickleball ambassador from West Melbourne said Palm Bay residents travel to West Melbourne to play because dedicated Palm Bay pickleball courts approved by City Council in July 2024 had not been built (Recreation Advisory Board minutes, April 7, 2026). The Liberty Park rink lines give players one more open surface in the meantime.

Liberty Park hosts Palm Bay adult softball: church, senior and super senior leagues play there on weeknights, according to the city's athletic leagues page.

The city lists three adult groups on the Liberty Park diamonds (City of Palm Bay Athletic Leagues). The Brevard Church Softball Association plays Tuesday nights at Liberty Park and Fred Poppe Regional Park, with doubleheaders starting at 7 PM. Brevard Senior Softball, for players 45 and older, plays Thursday nights at Liberty Park with doubleheaders starting at 6:45 PM. Super Senior Softball, for men 55 and older, plays Monday nights at Liberty Park.

The diamonds closed for dugout work in 2026. On May 20, 2026, the city closed the Liberty Park ballfields from Tuesday, May 26, so crews could remove the eight original dugouts and build eight new dugouts on new concrete slabs (City of Palm Bay, May 20, 2026). The project was paid for through the Community Development Block Grant program, and the fields were expected to reopen on Monday, July 6, 2026.

Some basics did not change. At the April 2026 Recreation Advisory Board meeting, the Palm Bay parks manager reported that dugout water access was not planned and that no dugouts currently had water or electric service (Recreation Advisory Board minutes, page 2). Lighting has also been an issue: on November 5, 2025, the city reported the Liberty Park basketball court lights out of service, with the courts open during daylight hours until repairs were done (City of Palm Bay, November 5, 2025).

Palm Bay is rebuilding Liberty Park in numbered phases paid for with federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money approved by the city's Community Development Advisory Board.

The January 15, 2025 board minutes describe the PY 2024 Liberty Park Improvements project: 700 linear feet of new backstop fabric on the softball fields, new clay on two fields to a depth of five inches, and LED fixtures for the basketball court lights (CDAB minutes, January 2025, page 3). A substantial amendment presented at that meeting moved $50,710 from a cancelled Palm Bay Aquatic Center project into Liberty Park, for a new total of $134,190. At the same meeting, Parks staff asked for $156,800 to replace eight softball dugouts with 100% in-house labor (page 7).

The December 22, 2025 minutes added two more phases (CDAB minutes, December 2025, page 3). Liberty Park Phase III covers 3,400 linear feet of deteriorated 4-inch sidewalks, sealing two aging parking lots and non-sport turf grass on four softball fields. Liberty Park Phase IV covers Bermuda sports turf on the athletic fields and restored parking areas. The board approved $168,349.39 for Phase III and $70,000.00 for Phase IV (page 6).

The money came with a deadline. In April 2026, the parks manager told the Recreation Advisory Board that delayed CDBG funding had been released and must be fully used before June 30, 2026 (Recreation Advisory Board, April 2026). The list included a multi-use court, Liberty Park sidewalks, sealing of the north and south lots and repairs to all eight dugouts.

Work was scheduled to start the week of April 27, 2026, in phases so parts of Liberty Park could stay open (City of Palm Bay, April 22, 2026). The north parking lot was to close first for sidewalk replacement, repairs and seal coating, with completion expected by June 3. The south lot was to follow in sections, and the multipurpose court was expected to close for several months once its work began.

The Liberty Park pavilion rents as a large pavilion with electric and water for $105 a day plus tax, booked online, with questions handled by the Palm Bay community centers.

Palm Bay prices pavilions in classes, and Liberty sits in the top class with Bill Madden, Inspiration and two Fred Poppe Regional Park pavilions (City of Palm Bay Rentals). Reservations are first-come, first-served and generally accepted up to one year ahead. All renters are subject to pre-approval, and contracts are required. Pavilions can be rented on holidays, unlike the community center rooms.

The city reservation listing adds the practical details (Liberty Park Pavilion reservation listing). The Liberty Park pavilion seats approximately 50 people and has two grills, restrooms and water fountains. Electricity and water are included in the fee, but a water key must be picked up at either community center before the rental. Online bookings must be made at least 5 days before the rental date. From March through October a rental may not end after 8:00 pm; in January, February, November and December, and on Sundays, it may not end after 5:00 pm.

The two community centers that hand out water keys are the Tony Rosa Community Center at 1502 Port Malabar Blvd. NE and the Ted Whitlock Community Center at 1951 Malabar Rd. NW (Rentals page). The rentals page gives (321) 952-3443 for Tony Rosa and (321) 952-3231 for Ted Whitlock.

Palm Bay staff have outlined a Liberty Park plan with multipurpose fields and pickleball, but the scrub-jay area near the park was still under internal discussion in April 2026.

At the October 2025 Recreation Advisory Board meeting, staff outlined a Liberty Park plan: an environmental study, an internal design for multipurpose fields and pickleball, an approximate twenty-five foot residential buffer, and relocation of gopher tortoises within that buffer (Recreation Advisory Board minutes, October 2025, page 4). Staff also noted approximately $150,000 in area 32909 impact fees expiring that fiscal year (October 2025 minutes, page 3).

By the April 7, 2026 meeting, the minutes say only that internal discussion continued on the scrub jay area near Liberty Park (April 2026 minutes, page 2). No construction date for new fields has been published. In October 2025, staff also updated the board on a citywide Parks and Recreation Master Plan, described as a strategic planning effort, not a pause on current projects (October 2025 minutes, page 3).

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay website, using the Liberty Park listing, the rentals page and the Community Development Advisory Board minutes.