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ALPENA — After three years of fundraising and planning the new Rotary Club of Alpena splash park at Starlite Beach opened to the cheers, screams and giggles of dozens of children.

The kids burst though a yellow ribbon and into the park as soon as the water began spraying. The adults who were there clapped and cheered as well.

The park opened after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place as the kids lined up waiting to enjoy and cool off in the new park.

Rotary splash park committee Co-Chair Joanne Gallagher said Rotary received a great deal of support for the project and there were many people who made it possible. She said the community’s participation at the beer and wine festival helped to raise a lot of money, as did the generous donations made from local businesses. Gallagher said seeing all of the smiling faces of the kids playing made all of the work, fundraising and planning worthwhile.

“This is exactly what we built it for and it makes us as an organization feel wonderful,” she said. “We built it for the community to have a place to come and play in the water, in a safe way, and we’re just really excited. It is finally here and open.”

Alpena Planning and Development Director Adam Poll attended the ceremony and brought his children with him to experience the new park. He said as a parent it is a convenient place for his kids to have fun.

“As a father it is great to have one more activity to bring your kids to and have a place where they can interact with other kids in a safe environment,” Poll said. “As a development director it is great because it is another example of placemaking in action and one more amenity we have for the region.”

The park is designed so there are low water pressure features designed for small children and others that have higher water output for older kids. The highlight of the park seemed to be the large bucket the hovers over it. The bucket is filled and when water reaches the top it spills on to the kids below with a giant splash.

There also is a series of hoops that spray water that children can run through and a water cannon what rotates so kids can take aim at their friends.

Gallagher said it was hard to envision how the park would look or operate until is was operating and now that it is open, she said it surpasses her expectations. She said she is pleased with how it was constructed and the features selected.

“It is more than I even expected,” she said. “I didn’t know it would be quite this big and it really surprised me when I first saw it run. I was like ‘Wow, this is really cool,’ especially the bucket and you can see the kids gathering under it because they know it’ going to fill and spill. That is a really fun part to watch.”

Co-Chairman Steve Lappan said after seeing the excitement of the people at the park Friday, he knows the right community project was selected by Rotary. He said if people use it as much as he expects, the door is open for more features to be added in the future,

“Seeing this today gives confirmation that the decision by Rotary to build this was the right one. People are going to flood this place when it is open,” Lappan said. “It is wonderful and I certainly hope the community will love it enough that they will want us to add an extension to it.”

The park is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. To start the water features there is a button on the top of the green post that needs to be pressed. The park runs on a timer for 15 minutes and it will need to be pressed again when the water shuts off.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.

News Photos by Steve Schulwitz
Members of the Alpena Rotary Club had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday at the new splash park at Starlite Beach. As soon as the water was turned on several kids rushed into the park to try it out for the first time. The large dump bucket was one of the main attractions at the park, as kids waited under it until it spilled and they got drenched.