The Wild Rapids Waterslide Park in Sylvan Lake opened for the summer season on Wednesday and it was a bittersweet day for fans of the central Alberta attraction.
On Monday, the park’s operators revealed the facility’s 34-year run would come to an end when the summer season wraps up, citing rising operating costs needed to maintain the water park.
READ MORE: Wild Rapids Waterslide Park in Sylvan Lake shutting down after 2016
Swimmers told Global News they are upset by the closure.
Zoey Mayert-Killam, 11, said she loves swimming and loves visiting the park. The closure means big changes for how her family will spend their summers.
“I’m really sad because it was starting to our family tradition,” she said, adding her family may now look for a water park in B.C. to visit.
Her grandfather Glen Killam, who hails from Calgary, said the news came as a surprise amid nostalgia for the attraction.
Ryan Veness used to visit the water park as a child. He now lives in Calgary and when he heard the news about the closure, he brought his seven-year-old son for his first and final visit.
“We wanted to show him and allow him to come see what we experienced as kids,” he said.
General manager Charlie Everest said the decision to closure the water park was made about a week to a week and a half ago.
And he admits it was tough.
More than 20,000 people pass through the water park every year, numbers that Everest said have remained steady the last 13 years he has been general manager.
Joel Johannson, president of the Sylvan Lake Chamber of Commerce, said it will be a challenge to fill the business hole left by the beloved attraction.
“Definitely we’re going to feel it,” he said. “There’s lots of opportunity where we can replace the water park with another attraction to recoup some of those losses. Will that be as popular as the water park? I guess that remains to be seen.”
Johannson said that he hopes local businesses diversify as a result of the water park leaving town and the local economy.
Sylvan Lake Mayor Sean McIntyre said the water park is synonymous with Sylvan Lake and will be “sorely missed.”
“It’s the end of an era for our community,” he said.
However, it seems McIntyre and the town are looking into the future. The town recently bought the parcel of land that the water park sits on for $4.9 million dollars.
“Our focus is going to be on public recreation. We’re going to enter into a consultation process with our community to make sure we’re planning that area together,” he said.
McIntyre said all options are on the table right now, and he adds the loss of the water park to Sylvan Lake will be mainly sentimental.
“We will miss some of the traffic Wild Rapids brings in but there’s so much more to see and do here that I think our tourism offerings are broad enough that they’ll still be benefiting our visitors.”
Sylvan Lake is about an hour-and-a-half drive from both Edmonton and Calgary.
-with files from Melissa Ramsay
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