Waterfront Park is the City of Leavenworth's riverside park on the north bank of the Wenatchee River, a few blocks south of the Front Street shops. The city built it starting in 1975 on 17 donated acres with more than 3,040 feet of river frontage, paid for largely with state outdoor recreation bond money. A footbridge crosses the Blackbird Island side channel to Blackbird Island, a wooded island bought by Chelan County, and the River Trail, Channel Trail and Hot Sands Trail loop through cottonwood forest to small gravel and sand beaches along the main river.

There is no single developed swim beach. People wade and swim from the small beaches along the trail, including the gravel bars near the downstream tip of Blackbird Island, and from Barn Beach at the park's east end beside the Wenatchee River Institute's Barn Beach Reserve on Division Street. Barn Beach is the broadest stretch of sand, so it draws the biggest crowd on hot afternoons and is also where most tubers floating down from the Icicle Road bridge climb out. The water is clear, cold to cool, and fed by snowmelt from the Cascades, with sand and cobble underfoot. There are no lifeguards.

Entry is free and the park is open 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. The city opens the restrooms around April 15, depending on snowmelt, and closes them on October 15; the trails stay open through winter for walking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Camping is not allowed in any city park. Walk in from downtown by heading south toward the river on Division Street, Commercial Street west of Eighth, or Enchantment Park Way. Most city lots downtown are pay-to-park from 7 am to 3 am, so on busy weekends the free Park and Ride lots at 990 US Highway 2 and behind Safeway on Ward Strasse, both served by zero-fare Link Transit buses, are an easier bet.

Take the current seriously. The Wenatchee runs high and fast through May and June, and the local outdoors group Wenatchee Outdoors warns that river spots around Leavenworth have rapids just downstream and that swimmers caught in the current early in the summer have drowned. Wait for the lower, warmer flows of late July and August, keep to the slack water close to shore, and watch children closely, as the city asks. Below town the river becomes a Class III whitewater run toward Cashmere. Old logging pilings and chained logs still sit in the river around Blackbird Island. Alcohol is not allowed on the river, and a life jacket is a good idea for anyone floating.

On summer weekends the city runs a free river shuttle from the East Leavenworth boat ramp to the Icicle Road put-in; it usually runs from early July through Labor Day, about every 30 minutes from 10 am to 6 pm. Chelan County has studied rebuilding the old mill dam that shaped Barn Beach as part of a whitewater play-wave project, which has drawn strong local opposition, so the beach could change if that plan moves ahead.

Away from the water, the park is good birding, with ospreys and bald eagles over the river and warblers, tanagers and lazuli buntings in the thickets. Deer and beaver are common. Enchantment Bridge links the island trails to Enchantment Park's ball fields, skate park and bike pump track, and downtown restaurants are a five-minute walk back up the hill.