The slides weren’t the only waterworks at Splashdown Water Park in Tsawwassen on Sunday.
The park’s last day of operation brought Simone Lavalle to tears as she thought about her 30 years of Splashdown memories, stretching back to when she was just five or six years old.
Now a mother of three herself, Lavalle said it’s “heartbreaking” to see the park close. She and her family have bought season passes for the last few years, sometimes going four or five times in a week.
“It’s sad because now I have nothing to take them to,” she told CTV News. “We’ve been bringing them for the past six years and just creating all those memories.”
Opened in 1984, Splashdown has hosted 80,000 to 100,000 visitors annually for the last 33 summers.
Manager Harold Fredericks said the park’s lease is expiring at the end of the month, and the owners decided “it was time” to close.
“The family who originally built Splashdown park is still around, but they’re happy to move on to their next project or retirement.”
The park celebrated its last day with a retro theme, harkening back to its early days in the 1980s. Music from the era was playing all day, and giveaways were on offer, but for Lavalle, none of that matched the importance of just being present for the end of an era.
“It’s the last day,” she said. “We’ve got to take it out with them. We got here at 10:30 just so that we could get our spot and we could just enjoy the whole day.”
Fredericks said he’s not sure what the future of the site on which Splashdown sits will be. All he knows is that his 16-year tenure at the park is coming to an end, and that he’s grateful for the memories he helped create in that time.
“It’s going to be missed by a lot of people,” Fredericks said. “It’s just been an honour to be a part of something that creates so much joy and fun for families.”
