Interesting Places to Explore in Goodyear

Goodyear grew fast, and a lot of what makes it interesting is easy to drive past on the way somewhere else: a sculpture outside the ballpark, a glowing sculpture of words beside City Hall, a spiral tower in Estrella, the site of a racetrack that lasted less than two years. Here are seven places worth a second look, and what to know before you go.

The Ziz at Goodyear Ballpark

On the plaza outside Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way, a towering fiberglass sculpture called the Ziz, by artist Donald Lipski, rises above the palm trees. The city notes that Americans for the Arts named it one of the best public art projects in the United States, and the city's live camera on the plaza is aimed to catch the sun setting behind the palms to the west. Seeing it from the plaza costs nothing. Spring training games inside, with the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds, are ticketed, and the ballpark's 2027 schedule covers February and March.

On the way, Arizona Pizza Company on West Roosevelt Street, which says it was founded in Goodyear and is locally owned, is an easy stop for a pregame or postgame slice.

Great Joy and Goodyear Civic Square

Goodyear waited a long time for a downtown. The city says residents and leaders first imagined a central gathering place in 1984, and Goodyear Civic Square finally opened at McDowell Road and 150th Drive in August 2022, on land that had been a scallion farm since the 1970s.

The square's centerpiece is Great Joy, a lighted sculpture beside City Hall about 12 feet tall and 25 feet across, made of stainless steel and polycarbonate with programmable LED lighting. Its surface pattern is built from text gathered at public outreach events; the city says the words came from more than 1,000 community members. Visit after dark, when it glows. The two-acre park around it has a giant chessboard and an outdoor stage with artwork on its roof, and it's free and open to all. Through the holidays, the square also hosts The Rinq, a free synthetic ice rink open on December weekends and into early January.

For dinner nearby, Popo's Fiesta del Sol serves Mexican food at 15375 W. McDowell Road, a short drive from the square.

Georgia T. Lord Library

Next to City Hall, the Georgia T. Lord Library is a 20,200-square-foot Maricopa County Library District branch named for Goodyear's first female mayor. The Goodyear library first opened in 2009 and moved into this building in 2022. It's worth a visit for more than books: the library lists an InnovationHub, telescopes, video games and a Friends of the Library bookstore among its services. Entry is free, and it's an air-conditioned stop on a summer afternoon.

The Nature Center at Estrella Mountain Regional Park

Maricopa County's oldest regional park, established in 1954, sits inside Goodyear at 14805 W. Vineyard Avenue. Its Nature Center was the first green-built nature center in the county system: the roof is planted with native desert vegetation to help the building blend into the hills, and a central skylight brings in light while gathering warmth in winter. It is also home to a small group of animal ambassadors, among them a rattlesnake, a tarantula and a tortoise, whom rangers introduce at programs. The park charges a day-use entry fee, except on days the county waives it, such as National Take a Hike Day in November.

The Star Tower in Estrella

In the Estrella community, south of the regional park, a spiral tower stands near the Estrella Welcome Center. Estrella describes its Star Tower, or Tower to the Sky, as a memorial to the Native American cultures of the desert Southwest that studied the night sky. The spiral echoes the arms of the Milky Way and the curl of a nautilus shell, a walking tour from the pavilion explains the story, and an observation platform sits at the top. Estrella's page doesn't post visiting hours or access rules, so call the community before planning a visit.

Café Bebida, inside the Estrella Welcome Center near the tower at 8175 S. Hillside Drive, makes custom-blended drinks, gelato and savory bites, which makes it the natural meeting point.

The site of the Phoenix Trotting Park

Near Cotton Lane and Interstate 10 stood one of the West Valley's strangest landmarks. The Phoenix Trotting Park opened in January 1965 as a harness racing track, with grandstands, betting windows, stables and a white-tablecloth restaurant in a bold concrete structure the city says was designed by Italian architects. With only a narrow, flood-prone Van Buren Street to reach it and no freeway, crowds never came, and it closed in December 1966, just 23 months later. The empty concrete hulk stood beside the highway for half a century until it was demolished in 2017. Today Goodyear High School, which opened on August 4, 2025, stands on part of the old racetrack land. The school isn't open for touring, but the full story lives on the city's history page.

The city's own timeline

To go deeper, the City of Goodyear's history page includes an interactive timeline from the Goodyear Historical Project. It traces the city back to 1917, when the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company bought 16,000 acres here to grow cotton for tires, through the World War II aircraft plant, the residents' choice of the name Goodyear in 1944 and the town's incorporation on November 19, 1946. The project also invites families to share historical photos, which the city scans and returns.