By Kayla Bruch

Top stories of 2014: City rallies behind water slides

Dec 30, 2014 | 5:40 AM

Our 2nd story of 2014 involves a key recreational activity in the city.

Going down the Kinsmen Water Park’s 300-foot slides, is the summer activity of choice for many people young and old in Prince Albert.

So it was no surprise the public was disappointed after being told the four iconic water slides would be closed over the 2014 season, due to safety issues.

Despite missing out on a full season of water slides, the public will be happy to know restoration work on the Kinsmen Water Park’s slides will start in the New Year.

Mayor Greg Dionne said a donor, who has not yet been named, agreed to donate $50,000 towards the project. This puts total fundraising efforts at $150,000.

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Dionne is positive the new slides will be open in the summer of 2015.

Sub Head: Journey to slide repairs

In May city officials finalized the slide closures after receiving an inspection report from Prakash Consulting Ltd. The engineers learned the slides, as well as the structures holding them up, posed risks for park guests.

At the beginning of June the future of the slides was looking bleak as the water park opened without them. The repairs of the slides were pegged at a cost of $260,000.

It was then people in the community began wondering if the water park would ever be the same, until one local Prince Albert resident went above and beyond to re-open the slides.

Shannon Hurl nominated Prince Albert’s Kinsmen Water Park for in the Kraft/TSN Celebration Tour. The winning community would receive $100,000 towards their community facility, or a top 10 prize of $25,000 each.

Hurl said she spent time with her husband and kids at the park and that’s why she was motivated to fundraise for the park.

After nominations the Kinsmen Water Park was chosen as one of the top 10 finalists in the tour, receiving $25,000.

All that was left to do at was to wait and prepare for the tour, which visited Prince Albert on Aug. 20.

“It wasn’t ever a ton of stress and a ton of work, it was just a good time and I mean I picked a group of people that know what they’re doing,” said Hurl.

With all the attention Hurl brought to the slides, Dionne said the city decided to pitch in $60,000 for the repairs. However, Dionne said that was the maximum the city could contribute because the repairs weren’t initially part of the budget.

Dionne, as well as water park visitors, knew that based on the high cost for the rebuild their last hope was to win the tour by collecting the most votes.

Unfortunately, during the Sportscentre broadcast everyone learned Prince Albert’s Kinsmen Water Park hadn’t won the additional $75,000, for a first place prize totalling $100,000; and it was back to the drawing board to raise money for the city’s beloved slides.

Following the loss, the water park faced an even bigger dilemma with summer admission numbers dropping due to the slide closures. 

Instead of getting discouraged the Prince Albert Kinsmen club looked for other sources of income to fund the remainder of the revitalization project.

To read about several donations which contributed the slide repair project, check out the related stories, also to read more of our top stories of 2014, click here.

-With files from other paNOW Staff

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow