Titusville Splash Park to open June 10

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Titusville will soon get its highly anticipated splash pad at Sand Point Park. A ribbon-cutting event is scheduled for June 10.

The Titusville City Council will gather for a short ceremony at 10 a.m., followed by the park's official debut. From that point, it will be open to the public at no charge during the park's operating hours, which are from dawn until dusk each day.

Finishing touches will be put on the park the week prior to the event. Fencing, landscaping, concrete coloration and shade sails for seating areas are all that's left to be done, said Marcia Gaedcke, president and chief executive officer of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce. Barnlight Electric will donate lighting in the weeks following the opening.

"We're very, very close" to being done, Gaedcke said.

Equipped with water jets, vertical structures that spray and dump water and seating areas, the new 2,500 square-foot, $513,000 pad will fill a void the community has been asking for since the early 2000s, Gaedcke said.

The project was first proposed in 2001, but a sour economy and a lack funds in the parks and recreation budget led to it being put on a back burner.

More than a decade later, residents decided to take matters into their own hands.

Civic organizations, businesses, churches, school clubs and individuals chipped in as a community wide fundraising effort was launched.

Forty Days of Generosity, an annual campaign in which North Brevard residents give back to the community with acts of kindness, was a major player. The campaign, in its infancy in 2015, adopted the cause and raised $74,000 for the project.

Add in gifts from local Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, and large gifts from the Severs family and area businesses, and about $217,000 was raised for the park just by the community.

The city of Titusville agreed to make up the difference after contracting estimates came back higher than anticipated. The city also will provide ongoing maintenance.

"We had elementary-age kids collecting coins all the way up to large organizations giving large gifts," said Trey Gordon, executive director of Hope for North Brevard, a nonprofit partner for 40 Days of Generosity. "For me, we all have a piece of it. That was the exciting part. And, for me, this was how you solve community problems. ... You say 'How do we all pitch in and get it done?' "

The fruits of their labor will finally pay off, changing the face of Sand Point Park. The parks are nearly unusable three months out of the year because of the heat, he said, and the splash pad will help maximize Sand Point's potential.
And as for the community?

It could be a game-changer.

"They're going to be busing the kids in," Gordon said. "There will be a lot of activity in that park, and it’s free."