Pooltime

Splash Zone to celebrate end of school year

Splash Zone in Jacksonville will open for the year with a School’s Out Celebration from 6-9 p.m. Friday. Entry to the park costs $5, and families can swim and play on the park’s new equipment without paying the $1 fee for slide rides. Finding Nemo will be shown after the event ends.
Splash Zone in Jacksonville will open for the year with a School’s Out Celebration from 6-9 p.m. Friday. Entry to the park costs $5, and families can swim and play on the park’s new equipment without paying the $1 fee for slide rides. Finding Nemo will be shown after the event ends.

Splash Zone in Jacksonville is celebrating its opening for the year by also celebrating the close of the 2015-16 school year.

The School’s Out Celebration, presented by Splash Zone and Jacksonville Parks and Recreation, will take place from 6-9 p.m. Friday. The entry fee is $5.

Diane Novotny, Jacksonville Parks and Recreation aquatics manager, said the celebration first started a few years back with a Movies in the

Park event and eventually expanded.

“It’s just a special event that we put on,” she said. “We started it one year just saying, ‘Hey, it’s such a nice weekend to just start on a Friday night.’”

During the School’s Out Celebration, the park will allow families to swim and play on Splash Zone’s equipment, including a few new additions, while a DJ provides music. A free screening of Finding Nemo will take place at 9 p.m.

“We have a brand-new play structure this year,” Novotny said. “There are two nice slides for our toddlers and those kids that aren’t 48 inches. And then we have two big slides for our kids that are [taller than] 48 inches.”

Splash Zone also has a pool with a diving board and jets that allow people a different way to cool off.

“We’ve got a little bit of everything for everybody,” she said.

Novotny said that a Friday night is an ideal night to hold the event each year because it increases the likelihood of the whole family being able to attend. Because it usually takes place on the last day of school, she said, parents can pick up their children after work and take the whole family to Splash Zone to enjoy the park.

Splash Zone attendance depends on the temperature of the day, Novotny said. She said she hopes the weather will allow Splash Zone to reach its capacity, which often happens on regular days at the park.

“Our capacity is 353 people. Our first year that we held [the celebration], we went to capacity because it was hot,” she said. “Last year, we had our 10-year anniversary, and we probably had less than 100 people. It just depends on the weather and if it warms up to where the pools are a decent temperature.”

Novotny said that on other days of the year, slides at Splash Zone cost $1 to ride.

“For the School’s Out Celebration, we go ahead and give it to them free,” she said.

Splash Zone now has a slide that is two stories tall and one that is three stories tall, Novotny said. The park began work on the new structures when it closed for the season this past fall.

Novotny said planning for the celebration occurs every September.

“Because we’ve been doing it for a while, there’s really not a lot of preparation outside of the regular stuff of opening up,” she said.

Splash Zone will be open every day from Friday to Aug. 14. Once school begins Aug. 15, Splash Zone will be open only on weekends until it closes for the season at 6 p.m. Labor Day.

The park’s concession stand will sell hot dogs, nachos, candy, ice cream and more during the event, and outside food will not be allowed in the park. Novotny said men and boys are required to wear swim trunks — shorts are not allowed. Arm floaties aren’t allowed, but U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets are. At least eight lifeguards will be on duty during the celebration.

Even though Splash Zone isn’t a very big park, Novotny said, it’s ideal for mothers who want to be able to easily watch all of their children at once.

“I think the uniqueness of it is that it’s got a lot of stuff, but it’s contained,” Novotny said. “You don’t have to walk the whole park to go somewhere else. A mom could sit on a lawn chair, and if she positions herself just right, she can watch all three pools and know where her kids are.”

Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.

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