Galion officials were hoping to hear the splatter of little feet enjoying the city’s new splash park this month.
But the splatter of the city’s recent wet weather has the project delayed until at least August.
“Thanks to the weather we are way behind schedule,” Park Committee Chair Shirley Clark said. “The completion plan was to be in July, the company who is doing the construction is behind all around due to the weather. We are anxious to see the first phase started for this new addition for the East Park and all of Galion.”
“There is no time frame, hopefully sometime in August we are beginning to narrow that down,” Mayor Tom O’Leary said. “We are disappointed it’s not in operation now. There are things we thought the supplier would do fell on us like getting permits and moving electric. Also, the Ohio Department of Health had to review the area.”
The park will be located at East Park, in the area of the former swimming pool.
The $328,000 project is being funded through a $200,000 grant from the Freese Foundation and a $128,000 match from the City of Galion.
It is slated to feature several smaller pieces of equipment including on-gro,und sprinklers, two palm trees that drop water and various water cannons. One of the large pieces is an aqua slide with the body of a tiger.
Clark noted they had began discussing the project nearly two years ago. The grant funds made it a reality.
The water features were designed by Texas-based Water Odyssey, which designs and builds custom, interactive fountains.
“Adult supervision will not be needed because there is no standing water in the play area and the water drains beneath it and is recycled back into the system,” Clark said.”There is talk about hiring someone to watch kids or hopefully someone like myself can go out and watch them.”
The water system will have a button to activate the features set length of time, the system will also be deactivated in the evening.
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Evans can be reached at 419-468-1117 ext. 2049.
