Elings Park is a 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) non-profit park located in Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

. Situated east of Las Positas Road and south of U.S. Highway 101, the park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 consists of sports fields, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, wedding/special event venues, and landscaped walkways. The park is a hub for mountain biking, youth sports, paragliding

Paragliding

Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...

, and other outdoor activities.

The north side of the park is built on top of the old, now-closed Santa Barbara City dump. The park's grand opening was in 1985, and it has changed names several times: at first it was "Las Positas Park," in 1991 it became "Las Positas Friendship Park," and in 1999, in honor of more than two million dollars given by Virgil Elings and his family, the park was renamed "Elings Park."