Recreation in Vero Beach, Florida

The City of Vero Beach Recreation Department runs Leisure Square, the Centerstage gymnastics gym and the lifeguards at three city beaches, while the city also runs the Vero Beach Municipal Marina and licenses the publicly owned Riverside Racquet Complex to USTA Florida.

The department office is at 2266 14th Avenue, and the main numbers are the Recreation Department at 772-567-2144 and Leisure Square at 772-770-6500 (City of Vero Beach Recreation Department). Its mission statement covers four jobs in Vero Beach: operating city recreation facilities and programs for residents and visitors of all ages, placing trained and certified water safety staff at city beaches and aquatic facilities, keeping up playgrounds, and funding upkeep of city parks. A fee schedule labeled Rates and Fees Effective 10/1/26 is linked at the top of the same page.

Vero Beach programs are not limited to people who live inside the city. The department states that every program on its site is open to all residents of Indian River County, regardless of location, and that financial assistance is available (City of Vero Beach). Prices still differ by address. A city resident lives inside the Vero Beach city limits or owns real estate there; a non-city resident lives elsewhere in Indian River County. Voter registration, a tax receipt or an electric bill count as proof, with the caveat that some county households outside the city also pay City of Vero Beach utility bills. No refunds are made, and credits roll to a later session.

Leisure Square at 3705 16th Street is the main City of Vero Beach fitness complex, with a large heated lap pool, a weight room, courts, two lighted sports fields and the Centerstage gymnastics gym.

The city lists basketball and volleyball courts, a cardiovascular room, a dance and exercise room, lockers with hot and cold showers, meeting rooms and one indoor, air-conditioned racquetball court at Leisure Square, and lifeguards are on duty at the pool (City of Vero Beach, Leisure Square). The pool, meeting rooms, racquetball court, volleyball court and ball fields can be rented for parties by calling 772-770-6500, and the complex is also the base for the city summer camps. The direct facility line is 772-770-6501.

Centerstage Acrobatic Complex is a 4,500 square foot gymnastics facility in Vero Beach for children from walking age to the teens, with staff trained under USA Gymnastics National Safety Instructors and every class held inside Leisure Square (City of Vero Beach, Centerstage). A six week session costs $60.00 for city residents and $75.00 for county residents, and a limited number of early registration spots cost $25.00 per class per person. Registration days are October 17, January 23, March 13 and June 12, each starting at 8:00 a.m. at Leisure Square, and the gym line is 770-3775. The Vero Beach Leisure Square pool guide covers the pool, its programs and its past in more depth.

Public tennis in Vero Beach centers on the Riverside Racquet Complex at 350 Dahlia Lane, a publicly owned facility managed by USTA Florida with ten hard courts, six of them lighted.

The complex is publicly owned and managed by USTA Florida, and it adds a free lighted practice wall, two ball machines for rent and a pro shop (Riverside Racquet Complex). The pro shop is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday and Sunday. The front desk answers at (772) 538-9933 (Riverside Racquet Complex contact page).

Night play at the Vero Beach courts adds a light fee of $2 per hour, per court, per person, and monthly memberships include unlimited tennis, racquetball and lights but not round robins (Riverside Racquet Complex). Proof of residency is voter registration, an electric bill or a tax receipt, and the complex asks for a copy of an electric bill without the surcharge. The rates page also carries a notice that court availability may be restricted due to fence damage, with repair dates to be posted once confirmed, so a call before driving over is worth it. The Riverside Racquet Complex guide covers programs, tournaments and how USTA Florida came to run the courts.

Boaters in Vero Beach use the city Municipal Marina at 3611 Rio Vista Boulevard, Marker 139, on the east side of the Indian River Lagoon just north of the Highway 60 bridge.

That span is the Merrill Barber Bridge, which the city names as the landmark just south of its docks. The marina is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the fuel docks stay open until 4:45 p.m., and gasoline, diesel and pump out service are sold from a 70 foot fuel dock with 8 to 10 foot approaches (Vero Beach Municipal Marina). The city says it hosts over 3,000 visiting boats each year that spend about 20,000 overnights, and it lists a laundromat, showers, Wi-Fi, a park with picnic shelters and free bus service to town. Phones are 772-231-2819 and 772-978-4960. Reservations need at least 48 hours of notice, and the marina asks boaters to monitor VHF Channel 16 and working Channel 66A (City of Vero Beach marina registration).

The Vero Beach mooring field was established in 1988 and expanded in 1997 (City of Vero Beach mooring field page). From October to April the city may raft up to three boats on one mooring, and it does not place vessels over 50 feet on a mooring because of their wind load. The city conducts underwater inspections of the moorings every year, and every mooring chain is replaced every third year. Boats that anchor just north of the field instead of rafting cannot use the dinghy dock, showers or laundromat. In a hurricane, vessels may try to shelter on the moorings first come, first served, one vessel per mooring.

The rate figures come from the Vero Beach marina schedule, which also sets monthly, seasonal and annual slip prices and requires Harbormaster approval for extended stay moorings (City of Vero Beach marina rates). The Vero Beach mooring field and anchorage guide explains rafting, mooring construction and storm rules in full.

The City of Vero Beach staffs lifeguard towers at South Beach, Humiston Beach and Jaycee Beach, and each tower has its own phone number.

The Recreation Department lists the South Beach Tower at 772-667-1747, the Humiston Beach Tower at 772-867-2276 and the Jaycee Beach Tower at 772-667-1367, along with a beach map and a map for each guarded beach (City of Vero Beach Lifeguards and Water Safety). Its beach safety page carries the city documents on beach warning flags, lightning and rip currents (City of Vero Beach Beach Safety Information). Beach wheelchairs are free during guarded hours at the city beaches, and a specially designed one is kept at South Beach Park; the number to call is 234-8375 (City of Vero Beach Recreation Department). Duty hours, flag meanings and staffing are covered in the Vero Beach beach lifeguards guide in the safety section.

The Vero Beach Boiler Wreck snorkeling guide covers the wreck, its depth and the conditions that suit it. One state rule covers historic material on state-owned bottomland generally: section 267.061 of the Florida Statutes declares that treasure trove and artifacts abandoned on state-owned sovereignty submerged lands belong to the state, with title held by the Division of Historical Resources (Florida Statutes 267.061).

Four changes shape Vero Beach recreation in fall 2026: a new city fee schedule dated October 1, 2026, a renewed USTA Florida tennis contract, a possible northward mooring field expansion, and storm repairs at the 14th Avenue community center.

USTA Florida announced on May 8, 2026 that it and the City of Vero Beach had signed a three year extension keeping USTA Florida in charge of the Riverside Racquet Complex, which it says serves close to 8,000 players each year (USTA Florida announcement, May 8, 2026). The arrangement dates to June 1, 2023, when the Vero Beach City Council voted unanimously to license the courts to USTA Florida, and the announcement calls the complex one of the Treasure Coast's most active public tennis destinations.

The Recreation Department page still shows a Turnkey Project Report dated 07/11/2025 on Hurricane Milton damage to the Community Center with canvas awning at 2266 14th Avenue in Vero Beach, describing metal roof trim due within two weeks and new east and west canopies after about six weeks of fabrication (City of Vero Beach Recreation Department). That July 2025 report was the newest update posted when this page was checked on October 15, 2026, so it shows the plan at that time rather than confirming the work is finished. The marina page likewise says the city is looking at expanding the mooring field to the north without giving a date (City of Vero Beach mooring field page). Prices on this page were last verified on October 15, 2026, on the City of Vero Beach website and the Riverside Racquet Complex rates page, and the city notes that all fees are subject to change without notice.

Each Vero Beach recreation question below has a deeper guide in this section or the safety section, and the table pairs the question with its key verified fact.

Parks, beach parks and nature areas around Vero Beach have their own section, so this recreation hub stays with the city programs, courts, pool, marina and water activities listed above.