Monday marks opening of splash park

Courtesy image

A "Splash Bash," staged in celebration of the opening of the Bob York Memorial Splash Park at the Greencastle Aquatic Center in Robe-Ann Park, is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 4.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend the Splash Bash, which will include a Splash Park dedication program scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.

Sponsored by the City of Greencastle and the Greencastle Civic League, the program will include free admission to the city pool from 6-9 p.m. as well as music, family time and splashing fun.

Once open, the splash park will have free admission and be open to the public on all warm days during the fall season.

Since the splash park will have no standing water, there will be no need for lifeguards at the facility, an ambitious Civic League project first announced in December 2011.

Initial plans were to have the facility open by Memorial Day this year, and if not, in time for the July 4 celebration. However, changes in equipment resulted in a delay in the receipt of several splash park elements, which in turn delayed the construction timetable.

A typical splash park offers water being sprayed, gushed, dumped and poured for enjoyment, like some supersized 21st-century version of the old days of running through sprinklers at home.

The park has been named the Bob York Memorial Splash Park after Nick and Rob York of York Automotive contributed the largest single local donation to the splash park project, and in return received naming rights for the facility.