Willard Beach Park is the City of Battle Creek's public beach on Goguac Lake, a 352-acre lake inside the city limits on the south side of town. The Battle Creek Recreation Department runs the park, which has a sandy beach at the water's edge, a lawn and picnic grounds on an upper and lower level, volleyball nets and several rentable pavilions. Goguac Lake reaches 66 feet at its deepest point, and most of its shoreline is private homes and the Battle Creek Country Club, which makes this park the obvious place for the public to get into the water. The city was already drawing up improvement plans for Willard Park in 1907, and it has been a summer swimming spot for generations.

The entrance is at 50 George B Place, a short street off Capital Avenue SW. Cars park inside the gate on park lots. From April through October the park is open 8am to 8:30pm. In winter the vehicle gates stay closed and only people on foot can come in.

Admission is $3 per person or $7 for a vehicle carrying three or more people, and there's no free re-entry, so leaving and coming back means paying again. A seasonal vehicle pass (windshield sticker) is $20, and bundles of pre-paid passes are sold at the Recreation Department office at 35 W Hamblin Ave. The fee is a city day-use charge open to anyone, resident or not.

Swimming is allowed only inside the buoyed area, and only from Memorial Day to Labor Day. No lifeguards work here, so everyone swims at their own risk and children need an adult watching them. The beach is sand and the water warms through July and August. Boats use the lake, and in 2013 city staff said the swim area sat too close to the boat channel and asked the state to help pay to move the beach a short way north. Stay inside the buoys. Restrooms are open over the same Memorial Day to Labor Day season.

The city and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy treat Goguac Lake for aquatic weeds most summers. Some treatments close the Willard Beach swim area for 24 hours, typically from noon one day to noon the next, and signs go up at the beach and in treated parts of the lake. Others leave the beach open. Notices go out through the city's Battle Creek Alerts system, and questions go to city Environmental Services at 269-966-3343. Check before a June or August visit.

Dogs are allowed on a leash in the park but not on the beach or the lower level, and owners must clean up after them. Alcohol is banned at all city facilities, this one included. Pavilion rentals run from $35 a day for the small shelters, including an octagon right beside the beach, to $210 for the large upper-level pavilion that seats 300; book them through the Recreation Department at 269-966-3431. Each August the beach is home base for the Goguac Lake Swim, an open-water race that reached its 99th running in 2026.