The St. Paul Splash Park saw its much-anticipated grand opening at Lagasse Park on Saturday, and despite the mild weather, kids turned up in the dozens to be among the first to test out the planetary-themed park.
“It’s wonderful to see the whole project come to fruition,” said St. Paul Splash Park Committee member Tim Bear. “It’s so exciting to see the kids playing in the park, families sitting out with towels and blankets, this is exactly what it’s supposed to be.”
While the Splash Park Committee held an official ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Glenn Andersen, Splash Park Committee members and representatives from the St. Paul Lions Club, the St. Paul Elks and the St. Paul Abilities Network, a paper banner created by some kids reading ‘grand opening’ was also stretched out across the width of the splash park. All kids present were encouraged to run through the banner and into the splash park to officially signify its grand opening.
“What we really want to do is have kids open the park,” Bear told the crowd at the ribbon cutting. “So we have a big paper banner and we want all the kids, once the ribbon is cut . . . we’re going to have all the kids just burst through it into the park.”
The park features a number of attractions, including a rocket water slide, three planet shaped spray stations, a trio of dump buckets as well as a number of other ways to get soaked from head to toe.
“It’s open and kids are enjoying themselves,” said St. Paul Rec. Director Gary Ward. “Hopefully on nice warm days they’ll be out using it all the time. I’d love to see kids playing here every day.”
Bear noted that the committee still has “a ways to go in regard to fundraising,” as they are still around $80,000 shy of completely funding phase two, the splash park, and for phase three, the committee hopes to have an outdoor fitness centre in place next to the splash park for the summer of 2014.
“I think we’ll probably take a little bit of a break and then start on phase three next year,” Bear said. “It’s a place where adults can go while their kids are playing at the splash park, and the whole park will be wheelchair accessible and barrier free.”
