Kiwanis Splash Pad taking shape at Aumiller Park and opens this summer

A crew of water-park specialists have been busy this week fitting pipes and building forms for the new splash pad at Aumiller Park in Bucyrus.

"The plan is to pour concrete on Thursday," explained Lee Avilucea of My Splash Pad, a company based in Louisville in Northeast Ohio.

The $250,000 project, funded entirely by Bucyrus Kiwanis Club, is slated be open by the Fourth of July weekend.

The idea for the new splash pad came to Kiwanis members in 2020 during the pandemic, explained Dane Kennedy, the club's president.

The club had received a donation of tools from the family of Donald "Doc" Wenner, who passed away that year at the age of 100.

"He was a 30-year Kiwanian," Kennedy said. "He didn't even join until he was 70."

The club sold the tools to raise money. During that process, someone suggested Kiwanis build a splash pad. The idea stuck, but didn't immediately come to fruition.

This spring, though, club members expedited their plan.

"We didn't think the pool was going to open this year and we wanted to get this open," Kennedy said.

Club members raised more money through the sale of benches and received several key donations. The fundraising was monumental, but not quite enough to pay for the new splash pad.

"It's a $250,000 project and it's not all paid for yet," Kennedy said. "We ended up taking out a $100,000 loan that we will be paying off over the next couple of years."

Anyone interested in donating toward the project is encouraged to contact the club through its website, bucyruskiwanis.org.

Kiwanis members then turned to the city for permission to build the splash pad at Aumiller Park. The new water park will be on city property, but will be managed by Kiwanis members.

"The city's supplying the water," Kennedy said. "We're taking care of the maintenance of it, making sure it gets winterized every year and the water features are brought in out of the weather."

The club hired My Splash Pad to do the work. The company has built more than 600 similar water parks across the United States. Avilucea himself has been at the trade for two decades.

"We're usually traveling 20 hours to the job site," Avilucea said. "For this, we're an hour and 45 minutes from the house, so this is a really, really close job for us."

Once the concrete dries after Thursday's pour, the crew can return and apply a layer nonslip surface covering and install the rest of the features.

"It's going to be pretty cool," Avilucea said. "Kids are going to enjoy it."

The water features will include a pair of large sprinkling frogs, a flower shower, a ladybug, a turtle, a duck and a large bucket that will dump water once its full.

A conservational aspect of the splash pad is that the water will not run when children are away from each feature.

"You have to touch it," Avilucea said. "They don't have to beat it, they just touch the top of the cap."

Since there's no standing water, the facility is expected to be fully handicap accessible and safe for children of all ages and ability levels.

"No risk of drowning," Avilucea said. "You don't need a lifeguard. Your insurance doesn't go up. It's pretty cool."

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