With warmer weather finally setting in, the Daviess County Parks Department has been able to make significant progress on the Horse Fork Creek spray park. The water spraying features were installed this week, 14 months after the County purchased the equipment.
Daviess County Parks Department Director Ross Leigh said he is not sure when the new east side spray park will open, but it will definitely be after the Daviess County Soccer Association’s tournament weekend, which is scheduled for Memorial Day.
“Our biggest goal right now is to make sure they have a successful season,” Leigh said of the record-breaking 88 teams playing this year.
Leigh said he and his team were excited to see progress on the spray park this week, especially with the most prominent feature — the large bucket — in the air. There is still a short checklist of items that need to be addressed, like landscaping and small attachment features.
The Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Number 633 donated labor for the underground plumbing for the spray park. The County obtained a special permit to drain water from the spray park into the nearby tributary of Horse Fork Creek. That water will then flow into the retention lake on the west end of the park.
The County purchased the equipment from Recreonics out of Louisville after Daviess County Fiscal Court approved the $178,752 budget for the spray park. County park employees installed the equipment themselves, saving on labor costs Leigh said.
When the spray park is complete, it will span 80 feet by 60 feet (4,800 square feet), which is nearly double the size of the spray parks at Yellow Creek and Panther Creek Parks. Specifics on the spray park include 23 individual spray features — 13 ground mounted sprays and 10 above ground features. Kids will also enjoy a frog, Cattail Twirl and a 20-foot tall dumping bucket. The capacity for the spray park is 125 users.
“I foresee a lot of families will use it,” Leigh said. “It changes the face of Horse Fork to the community as not just a soccer facility.”
