By Jessie Weisner (Twitter: @Jessie__Weisner)

Ground breaking celebration held for local Rocky spray park

Jul 18, 2018 | 5:07 PM

A ground breaking celebration was held Tuesday for Rocky Mountain House’s very own spray park.

Hosted by the Rocky Spray Park Council, the event featured a pop-up Spray Park courtesy of Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue.

The area just behind the Lou Soppit Community Centre is the park’s future home, which will include its own pump-house and change rooms.

The location is accessible by the local walking trail, aiming to give the public an easy place to visit in the summer.

“We need to have things for kids to do,” says Carie Liebig, President of the Rocky Spray Park Council. “We need to keep our kids and our families here in Rocky instead of travelling to Rimbey, Blackfalds or Penhold.”

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The council’s immediate goal is finish the in-ground work by fall of this year and begin construction in 2019.

“We’re hoping to put services in here before freeze-up happens this winter,” says Liebig. “Then hopefully actually build the Spray Park come Spring of 2019.”

Liebig says the project has been a long time coming and wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for generosity from the Town.

“We’re coming up on five years working on the project, so we’ve been straight pounding pavement, getting donations and putting the work in with the Town.”

The Town of Rocky Mountain House approved $350,000 in their 2018 budget towards the Recreation Master Plan, including $50,000 dedicated to the Spray Park.

“It just adds another service to our growing community,” says Tammy Burke, Mayor of Rocky Mountain House. “It’s another draw for young families to relocate.”

The land was donated by the Town, and Mayor Burke says the location of the park should bring in tourism.

“It’s right off the highway so people will see it, so if they don’t stop on their first trip, perhaps they’ll stop on their second trip or make it a planned stop. It’s just one more added value for our area.”

In addition to the Towns contribution, local businesses have donated to the initiative.

“We’ve had a lot of donations, we’ve had some small community donations,” says Liebig. “We’ve had some larger business donations and even a few large oilfield company donations.”

However, the Rocky Spray Park council is still seeking donations to provide the community with the best possible recreation area.

“We are still seeking donations so the more we get at this point the better park that we’ll have come time to build.”

The goal is to get the park up and running before summer of 2019.