ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Splash Pad Fund Tops $328,000


Jennifer Kidder, Archbold Parks & Recreation director, said more than $328,000 has been raised or committed to the splash pad project.

“It’s amazing that we have managed to raise this amount of money in a short time period, and the project is getting closer to reality,” she said in an email message to this newspaper.

The splash pad, essentially a large concrete pad that has several features that squirt, spray, or dump water on children, was first profiled in the Archbold Buckeye issue of July 1, 2020.

At that time, Kidder said she couldn’t fund the project with money raised by taxes.

Since then, as of Wednesday, June 2, she has raised $328,480.75 to build the pad on the site of the former ice rink in Ruihley Park.

The total cost is estimated at about $430,000, so the project still needs $101,519.25.

“That last $100,000 will be the most difficult to raise, but I am confident that we will meet our goal,” she said.

Estimated High

“In preparing the budget for this project, I used numbers provided to me by Aquatix (a Delano, Mich., company that sells parts for, and designs, splash pads) and looked at similar projects. I am confident that I estimated high at the time,” she said.

“But we have also seen tremendous price increases in various areas. I would think it is likely that we may see an increase in our cost.

“But I am hopeful that we can keep under the original budget with some changes (that will not affect the project design).

“I will be obtaining all design and construction drawings for the splash pad project, to consist of construction of the concrete pad, the mechanical systems, the electrical and control systems, inbed/spray fixtures, installation details, play structure assembly and installation, and finally, the equipment systems installation.

“This information will help me to reach out to possible contractors to finalize prices.

“We will also be able to determine how much of the project we can complete with volunteer labor (like we had with our playground builds at Memorial, Woodland and North Pointe Parks).

“We will spend about $8000 for the plans for all of this.

“It will take about three weeks for the production of all of the above mentioned plans. Then the real fun begins!”

Reaching Out

For now, though, Kidder said, “I will continue to reach out to businesses, organizations and individuals to hopefully secure the remaining money in a relatively short time period.

“We are also discussing some more fundraising projects that can help bring in more money to get us to our final goal.”