Ground broken on Camp Clay splash pad

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

YMCA Camp Clay Director Clint Myers, who has been looking for a way to provide a great experience for everyone who comes to the Camp Clay Aqua Park, said the new splash pad now being constructed at the park is just what he was looking for.

Ground was broken on the project, which should be ready for the park’s opening on Memorial Day weekend, on Tuesday.

“We’ve been working to make the park more attractive for families with younger kids,” Myers said, noting that he was driving in Rockford a couple of years ago when he saw the splash pad located in that community’s Shane’s Park.

That was what gave Myers the idea, the concept, of having something similar at Camp Clay. “I said ‘That’s what we need, we need something like that, where it doesn’t matter what age you are, or whether you’re in a wheelchair,” he explained, adding that, while he sees people of all ages using the new splash pad, he envisions it being used primarily by relatively young children. “It puts in the last niche for what to do with younger kids.”

Myers said the current water park equipment, including the zipline and bounce pad, are more for older youths and adults, and added that he had gotten requests from a number of people wanting something for younger children to do.

The project started approximately two years ago, with the beginning of the permit process.

“Usually that’s the biggest hurdle you have to get through, just making sure you can get the proper permitting,” said John Foraker, owner of My Splash Pad, the company installing the new splash pad.

The new splash pad will feature approximately 40 water sprays of varying intensity over a 36,000-square-foot area — three times as big as the Shane Park splash pad — as well as an umbrella that provides a shower-like spray. Like a swimming pool that has shallow and deep ends, Myers said the sprays would be adjusted to provide water pressure appropriate for younger children in one area, while older children and adults will have also have an area with more intense sprays.

Foraker said the water, which would be re-circulated from Lake Rotary, would be aerated and run through an ultraviolet light to kill e coli and any other bacteria found in the lake, noting that the process would also make the lake’s water cleaner and healthier than it currently is.

“We have great water quality already, but it’s going to make it that much better,” Myers said. “A lot of people have already commented on how blue and clear the water is.”

Myers said the splash pad would re-circulate approximately 220 gallons of water a minute, from the lake to the splash pad and back again.

Foraker said the splash pad installation should be pretty much complete in about a week, but the Fiberglas materials would then have to cure for approximately 30 days before the splash pad could be used. There will also be some anti-slip safety surfacing installed around and in the splash pad area.

Foraker said using reinforced Fiberglas, which has a lot of advantages over stainless steel.

“We did a lot of research when we went into this,” Foraker said of his decision to use Fiberglas over metal.

For more information on the splash pads, go to www.mysplashpad.net.

Myers said the YMCA would have $1 days on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, but area veterans groups sponsoring a free day that Monday for Memorial Day. The aqua park would be open from noon to 6 p.m. all three days and then go to its regular schedule, which is noon-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon-6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

The weekdays should all be $1 days, thanks to a number of generous donors who have provided funds for that purpose.