Occupying 1,500 acres in Centreville, Bull Run Regional Park offers ample accommodations for large groups, like Scouts, or families for picnicking, camping or special events.
There are picnic tables and grills, picnic shelters and a corporate picnic area. The tables and grills are on a first-come, first-grill basis, and the shelter and corporate picnic area are available by reservation only.
The park has 143 family campsites, 90 of which are equipped with electricity, while the other 50 are primitive.
Fees for camping per night for a non-electric site is $22.31 per night for non-Fairfax County residents and $21 for residents with tax. For an electric site, it is $25.46 per night for non-residents and $24.15 per night for residents (all fees are for up to four people).
There are bathhouses with showers, washers and dryers, a dump station and a camp store. For a little entertainment, the park offers an 18-hole miniature golf course and an 18-hole disc golf course. Six soccer fields and a children's playground are also on hand to keep children busy for hours.
An outdoor 17,000-square-foot water park, complete with lifeguards, new slides, palm trees, shipwrecks and aquatic monsters, gives everyone a great place to cool off. The wading pool for children ages 4 years and younger covers nearly 2,000 square feet. Pool is open from Memorial Day until Labor Day. The 2005 swimming pool season operates from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekends and holidays from May 28-Sept. 5; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Jul. 4; 1-6 p.m. on Fridays from Jun. 3-24; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays from Jun. 27-Sept. 2. Cost is free for children under 2; individuals under 48" is $5.25; over 48" is $6; seniors age 60 and over is $4.25. Discounted rates for weekdays after 3 p.m. excluding Jul. 4 and Labor Day is as follows: individuals under 48" is $3.25; over 48" is $4; seniors age 60 and over is $2.75.
LOOKING FOR a place to saddle up? Bull Run offers a bridle path and staging area with access to the 17-mile Bull Run-Occoquan Trail (no bikes).
The park also houses the Bull Run Public Shooting Center for the avid hunter or archery fan. It is complete with sporting clays, skeet and trap, a newly renovated indoor archery range and an archery and gun pro shop. There are five skeet and trap shooting fields which can accommodate five people in each, and there are 14 stations for clay shooting.
The archery range can accommodate up to six shooters at one time. The center is open Tuesday through Thursday, 3-8 p.m., Friday, 2-8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
The Bull Run Special Events Center hosts outdoor concerts such as the Capital Jazz Fest, craft shows, festivals and other special events. And this November through December will mark the return of the popular Miracle of Lights show, during which visitors drive through a 2 1/2-mile section of the park and view lighted, holiday scenarios. New this year will be children's rides and activities following the show.
Address: 7700 Bull Run Drive, Centreville. From Route 29 west, turn left onto Bull Run Drive and follow the signs to the park entrance.
Admission: nonmember residents is $7 per vehicle, per day; $14 per vehicle, per week; $11 per vehicle, per day with 10 passengers or more; and $45 annual fee.
Entrance into the park is free for member residents. A member resident should live in either Alexandria, Arlington, the City of Fairfax, Fairfax County, Falls Church or Loudoun County.
Call the Park and Camp Center at 703-631-0550 for more information or to reserve a campsite. To reach the Bull Run Public Shooting Center, call 703-830-2344. For the pool, call 703-631-0552. For picnic shelters and the pavilion, call 703-352-5900.