While rain may be in the forecast, the slides will be open, the lounge chairs out and the Lazy River flowing, as Splash in the Boro opens for its 13th season with its annual weekend preview.
“We take the weather as more of a reactionary thing,” said Steve Brown, aquatics division manager for the Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department. “We plan to be open. So as long as the weather allows us to be open, we’re going to operate like we’re supposed to.”
The preview weekend was created to give the public a taste of the park, but also as a way to provide the park’s 225 part-time workers with some extra training before the season starts.
“A lot of our staff come from high schools in the area, so we have trouble being open before the end of the school year,” Brown said. “We always like to use this weekend to find any kinks. That gives us time to be able to work some of those kinks out without the park being in full force.”
Like previous preview weekends, Splash expects between 3,000 and 4,000 visitors to come by Saturday and Sunday. Next year, however, Brown expects much higher attendance for the preview weekend.
“We’ve been talking about it for a few years, but we’re aiming to expand the park for the 2017 season,” he said.
The expansion would come just two years after a new water park opened in Pooler in 2015. New additions would consist of several new shade structures, concessions and a wave pool.
“They do their thing over there (in Pooler), and we do our thing,” Brown said.
Splash in the Boro opened in 2004 and has seen solid success in its first 12 years. The park’s top year was 2010 when the park had 168,000 visitors. The park had about 130,000 visitors during the 2015 season.
“We try to offer a great park at an affordable price,” Brown said. “We expect everyone to leave the park with a great experience. We pride ourselves of being friendly, safe and fun for everyone. We encourage everyone to come see us.”
Splash in the Boro will officially open for summer on May 28 and will be open seven days a week through Aug. 7.
Splash in the Boro’s weather policy details that severe weather or thunder and lightning calls for all pool decks to close immediately. In the event that the park has to close for one consecutive hour before 4 p.m., a ‘rain check’ will be issued to every customer – redeemable for one visit at any time throughout the three-month season.