Children in the Village of South Jacksonville are cooling off once again. The Village of South Jacksonville announced today, the Splash Pad in Godfrey Park is up and running.
The Splash Pad had been closed due to mechanical issues since the start of the summer park season. Public Works Superintendent John Green said earlier this spring that the water feature had been working when his crews did the initial post-winter check of the system.
However soon after a failure in the timing switch caused the attraction to be closed until repairs could be made. Green says there remained issues with the initial new part that first arrived from the manufacturer, who is located in Canada so some delays were also experienced in getting parts in a timely manner.
He says the Splash Pad still needs some more work, but as of right now, the pad is fully operating.
“Kids are in it and splashing as we speak. We got it up and going shortly after lunch today. It’s kind of a temporary fix, we are waiting on a different type of switch to come in. But for now, we’ve got it up and we will have it open for our regular hours which are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from one to six pm, and Saturday and Sunday from twelve to seven pm.”
Green says he believes the repair will last until the new parts come in, however, if there is an issue, residents will be notified via the media and the Village’s website.
The Splash Pad sat without operating since the close of the 2019 season after COVID restrictions kept the water toy from being allowed to operate. Green says the equipment sitting idle that long is not good for it and once the switch went bad, the Splash Pad would run, however, it would not turn off via the timer.
Green says running the pad constantly during operating hours would use and waste too much water to make operating without the timer feasible for the Village water system.