(Photo by Jordan MacKinnon)(Photo by Jordan MacKinnon)
Midwestern

Southampton May Have Splash Pad For Next Summer

A fund raising effort for a second splash pad in Saugeen Shores is underway.

The Southampton Rotary Club has received an endorsement from Saugeen Shores council to build a $150,000 splash pad in Jubilee Park, adjacent to the accessible playground.

Spokesperson Tony Sheard says the splash pad will feature a firefighting theme - a nod to the splash pad's proposed location behind the Southampton fire hall.

The unveiling of the splash pad plans comes on the heels of council endorsing a separate splash pad project in Port Elgin, which is being organized by a group of citizens and is planned to be constructed at Northshore Park on Port Elgin's waterfront.

Sheard contends there should not be any public confusion between the two projects.

"The two areas are quite distinct, so I don't think there will be any confusion," says Sheard. "And also, we've chosen a fire fighting theme, so there's a completely different style of [splash] pad, it's also linked to the accessible playground, so I think there are a number of unique features about the Southampton [splash pad] which differentiates it from the one in Northshore Park."

Sheard says they plan to work with the Port Elgin group to tender and construct both splash pads next spring in hopes of realizing some cost savings, with a goal of having the Jubilee Park splash pad open early next summer.

Even though the public has donated more than $200,000 to the Port Elgin splash pad project, Mayor Mike Smith says he does not see donor fatigue impacting the fund raising efforts in Southampton.

"Historically, Rotary Club raised money in different ways, they have their fund raisers and they do different things," says Smith. "We just raised a whole bunch of money for the hospital and we just raised a whole bunch of money for Community Living, so I mean, there's always some fund raising driving the community and this community has been great in supporting all those types of projects."

The Southampton Rotary Club is seeking a $30,000 municipal contribution towards the project, which has been referred to 2017 budget talks.

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