A real splash

Kristy Arrington of Beatrice has fond memories of spending warm summer days at the swimming pool as a child.

Now the mother of two children, Natalie, 5, and Nicholas, 2, she’s creating new memories as they enjoy spending time in the water and on the slides at the Big Blue Water Park in the summer.

“I’m glad this is part of their childhood,” she said.

For the past 10 years, the Big Blue Water Park in Beatrice has become a summertime destination for many local and surrounding area residents.

The Big Blue Water Park is celebrating its 10th season, but its history goes back even farther.

In 1992, former Beatrice Mayor Dave Maurstad put together a pool committee to address the needs of the old swimming pool in Riverside Park, recalled former Beatrice Mayor Paul Korslund. The Riverside pool was in need of renovation due to age and damage over the years after being submerged in flood water twice.

“It was beginning to be a big burden, and it just wasn’t satisfying the need,” he said.

Korslund was mayor during the bond election and construction on the water park.

When the committee considered the costs to renovate Riverside, the committee decided that it was in the best interest of the city to start from scratch and build a new swimming pool, Councilman and former pool committee member Alan Fetty said.

A new pool turned into a $1.9 million water park, which features a 9,000-square-foot zero depth pool, a youth pool with fountain bubbler and toys, 124-foot loop water slide, an eight-foot wide river slide, two one-meter diving boards, shade structures, sand volleyball courts, bathhouse and concessions.

Fetty credits the location of the water park today in east Beatrice to former city councilman and pool committee chairman Wayne Bitting, who recognized the need to get the pool out of the floodway and that the city’s population was substantially growing in the east.

With the new location and the design in place, the project was taken to Beatrice voters in November 1996 to pass a bond to pay for the park, Fetty said. The city also dedicated $400,000 in Keno funds to the project.

The water park was completed in 1999 and opened for the first time to the public on May 29, 1999.

“It has lived up to what we wanted it to do,” Fetty said.

Over the years people from everywhere in Southeast Nebraska have visited and enjoyed what the water park has to offer, Amanda Morgan, Big Blue Water Park manager, said. On average, the park sees 27,000 to 29,000 people each year.

“It’s been great, it’s been great working here,” she said.

The water park is hosting a special celebration night on Thursday, July 24, with free admission and prize give-aways from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Morgan said.

Michelle Mayfield of Beatrice is grateful to have the water park available for her children to enjoy during the summer, she said.

“It’s a very nice water park for Beatrice,” she said.

Her children, MaKena, 6, and Kai, 4, spend a lot of time during the week at the pool, she said. They love to play on the slides, particularly the fast pink river slide.

“I am so thankful that we have this water park here,” said Janet Lancaster of Beatrice, another pool patron. “It’s so nice to have this variety.”