BENTON — The grand opening for the new Riverside Park and its community center is scheduled for April 1, and Benton Mayor David Mattingly expects the park to be completely ready at that time.
“That’s the plan,” Mattingly said with a smile. “We meet about every two weeks to get a progress report, and we expect to be completely operational by then.”
The open-house grand opening will begin at 10 a.m. and will last all day, culminating with two basketball games in the new Boys & Girls Club building. The first game will feature the Benton Police Department and the Benton Fire Department squaring off, followed by the Parks Department Staff against the staff of the Boys & Girls Club.
The new aquatic center will open at 11 a.m. and will be highlighted by seven members of the “Cool Pool Kids” club sliding down the new two-story water slide at the center — a slide they helped design.
Kids will walk up the staircase; then the slide ventures outside the center and comes back into a landing strip near the splash pool.
Having a pool was important to Mattingly and is something the city of Benton has not had in more than 20 years.
“I was pitching the city to a group of investors and business owners, trying to convince them to come down here,” Mattingly said during a recent tour of the new facilities. “I nearly had them hooked, but then one of them said, ‘My kids love to swim. Where is your pool?’
“After that, the mood of the room changed drastically. We just don’t have the same amenities that people in Northwest Arkansas have had for years — until now. We are real excited about having a pool again.”
The new pool features eight lanes and is 25 yards long, which is excellent for competitive swimming, Mattingly said. The pool recently underwent a test fill to make sure there weren’t any leaks or other noticeable problems.
The pool will be open to the public but will also be used as the new practice facility for the Benton High School swim team, as well as other competitive teams. There is also a warm-up pool for those swimmers waiting their turn during events, and nearly 250 seats are available in the balcony.
Other amenities at the new River Center will include the following:
• A rock climbing wall;
• Pool party rooms;
• Four basketball courts or eight volleyball courts;
• An indoor track; and
• An aerobics room and a locker room.
Overlooking the swimming pool will be the fitness area with exercise equipment, and the new headquarters of the Benton Parks Department.
Mattingly said the complex can accommodate up to 5,200 people for conventions, as well as basketball and volleyball tournaments, and he also has plans to use it for concerts. One thing he is proud of is the use of space for parking and access points to the center to help detour some of the traffic.
“None of this would have been possible if the citizens of Benton had not passed the quality-of-life tax back in November [2014],” Mattingly said.
The new park will also feature a new 18,000-square-foot senior center that will host up to 200 people for dinners or other events. The old Benton Senior Wellness and Activity Center on Jefferson Street in Benton will be remodeled and updated to become a new police substation for the city.
The new Boys & Girls Club of Saline County building will be capable of accommodating 800 children in its new 50,000-square-foot facility, nearly doubling the capacity of the old club.
“The Boys & Girls Club is important to us because it allows kids to have a place to go, and it allows them to have an identity and to have value,” Mattingly said. “It gives them a place to go when they get out of school, where otherwise they might have to go home to an empty house.”
Every structure at Riverside Park features an arch at its entrance, including the senior center and the main entrance. Even the concession stand at Bernard Holland Park has been updated to match.
“It is a way to connect all of the buildings so they are uniform,” Mattingly said.
Memberships are now being accepted for the new park, with the first 1,000 members receiving a lifetime rate lock. The lock means the annual/monthly rate will never increase as long as the account is current.
For adults ages 18 to 59, there is an annual rate of $180 or $15 a month or $5 daily. For youth ages 3 to 17 and seniors ages 60 and older, the annual cost is $120 or $10 a month. Family packages start at $420 annually or $35 per month.
“This is a $49 million project,” Mattingly said. “That is a lot of money to be entrusted with.”
For more information, call Benton Parks and Recreation at (501) 776-5970.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.