HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Six children stood before the Hopkinsville City Council during the meeting Tuesday night to express their support for the popular water park Bluegrass Splash. These statements came before the second vote on an amendment that would allocate the $125,000 needed for necessary repairs to the park.

“Bluegrass Splash is the only cool place we have to go in Hopkinsville; will you pretty please fix it?” said a young Hopkinsville resident, who was the first to speak. Several others followed, each expressing what the water park means to them with an emphasis on it being the only fun, safe outlet kids have during the summer.

“Please consider repairing the facility to make it safer for us all,” said a girl representing Challenge House #1. “My mom always says she can’t understand why Hopkinsville lets so much money go to Tennessee and other cities around us instead of giving us more stuff for youth to do here. And I agree with her.”

The funding ultimately passed the second reading, 7-4 later in the meeting, with Councilmembers Bruce Smiley, Donald Marsh, Amy Craig, Travis Martin, Doug Wilcox, Robert Meek and Steve Keel voting in favor, and Councilmembers Chuck Crabtree, Jamie Lienberger, Jason Bell and Matthew Handy voting against. Councilmember Natasha Frances abstained.

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Where the money is going

At the previous council meeting, Perry outlined the costs needed for various sections of the park. The list included repairing a 20-foot section of leaking pipe that will cost $33,150. Cracked support brackets on the slides also need to be repaired, and the insides of the slides need to be re-caulked, which adds up to $27,870. An issue in their pump house will cost $17, 590 to fix, and the pumps for the slides need to be rebuilt for $20,000.

These issues, along with in house repairs of small leaks, are estimated to cost a total of $103,610, but they are asking for a contingency, bringing the request to an even $125,000.

The park had to cut their 2023 season short due to the leaking pipe. Perry also shared that last season, the water park attracted 33,000 visitors, 77% of whom were from out of town.