Excitement is mounting in Turner Valley as families count down the days until the town’s newest park drenches youngsters.
The grand opening of the 31,200 square-foot spray park located east of the Dr. Lander Memorial Outdoor Swimming Pool will be held May 30.
The $753,000 project is an initiative of the Foothills Lions Club.
Turner Valley residents have been looking forward to the water turning on at the spray park for years.
“We’re all very excited about it,” said Christine Bates, who has two young children. “My kids spend the entire summer at the pool so that’s just going to be an extension of that. They’re going to be able to get out and run around in the spray park and go back into the pool. In my opinion it’s great to have many opportunities to play outside and be active.”
The Bates family was one of many who got involved raising money and volunteering alongside the Foothills Lions Club to see the park completed.
“It’s just a great community project where lots of people have come together to make it happen for our kids so I think it’s great,” she said.
With the opening just days away, many families in the area are getting antsy.
“The kids at the school are all getting very excited about it,” said Bates, who works at Turner Valley School.
“They can’t wait to see it working and get in there. It has been a while fundraising so they’re just excited to actually be able to play in it.”
Through community fundraising initiatives, the Foothills Lions Club contributed $405,000 towards the park, and more than 4,000 volunteer hours.
The Town of Turner Valley provided land, $223,000 in infrastructure and $125,000 towards the facility and will gain ownership of the park on May 30.
Mayor Kelly Tuck rallied for the project from the beginning.
“I can’t wait to see the kids down there playing,” she said. “It’s going to be the hub of the community this summer.”
Tuck said the park will bring families and friends together, not only in Turner Valley, but surrounding communities.
“It’s going to be amazing for the area,” she said.
Barry Crane, chairman of the Foothills Lions Club spray park committee and Turner Valley town councillor, said the club faced a lot of struggles with getting the park in place over the last three years from delays to unexpected expenses.
The Lions Club intended to open the park in June 2014, but a delay in funding approval from the Province’s Community Facility Enhancement Program, which awarded the project $75,000 last spring, and unexpected expenses for excavation work and an ultraviolet disinfectant system hindered the anticipated opening date.
“Just to see this project be final is a huge sense of accomplishment,” said Crane. “We’re super excited about seeing this come to fruition.”
Most impressive to Crane was the amount of volunteer hours and donations that came from the community.
This was especially evident when the Foothills Lions Club put out a call to the community to place 15,000 square feet of sod around the park last month and 75 volunteers showed up and completed the job in less than two hours.
“We had parents and kids just showing up,” he said.
“The kids were all helping lay sod and running around on the spray park. It was a great day all around to put some finishing touches on a project that’s going to be great for the whole region.”
Several people also contributed to the tile fundraiser, where individuals, families, organizations and businesses purchased and painted $50 tiles, with $47 going towards the park’s construction costs.
The close to 300 tiles sold will be displayed on the exterior of the change rooms, said Crane.
“I would like to congratulate all the people who have been a part of this project from the start to the finish,” he said. “It’s hard to believe that it’s coming to an end after such a long time of working on it.”
With just a few minor tweaks to make to the mechanical room’s computer system and a final testing of the water by Alberta Health Services to ensure it meets safety standards, Crane hopes to flick the switch to the park at this weekend’s opening.
“We are cutting it close to the wire,” he said. “We’re really hoping it all comes together.”
The grand opening takes place at the spray park at noon on May 30 with political dignitaries, Lions Club members and Town administration and councillors participating in a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Cake will be served and the local Girl Guides will host a fundraising barbecue.
