Splash pads reopen for hot weekend
Humid temperatures are forecast for Waterloo Region
WATERLOO REGION — Families looking to cool down this sweltering late September weekend can head to reopened splash pads around Waterloo Region.
Normally, most of the region’s splash pads are closed for the season at this time of year.
But several have reopened due to the unexpectedly hot temperatures.
“I think we pleased a lot of children and a lot of parents,” said Jeff Silcox-Childs, Waterloo’s director of environment and parks services.
The city reopened its popular Lions Lagoon for the weekend on Friday, the start of a hot long weekend for local schoolchildren who had a PD Day.
On Saturday and Sunday, Lions Lagoon is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is free as always.
As the temperatures soared this week, the city started fielding calls about lagoon.
“We had a number of people calling in to see if it was open,” Silcox-Childs said.
While fall may be here officially, the mercury is expected to rise to 31 C this weekend on the heels of an already steamy week.
Add in the humidex and it will feel more like the high 30s on Saturday and Sunday.
A heat warning was issued on Friday afternoon for the region for the weekend.
Environment Canada issues a heat warning when at least two consecutive days are forecasted to have a daytime high of at least 31 C and a nighttime temperature 20 C or warmer, or a humidex greater than 40. Local cooling centres will be opened for people to get relief
from the heat if needed.
In Cambridge, the three larger spray pads at Riverside, Churchill and Forbes parks were open starting on Tuesday and will remain open into Sunday from 10 a.m. until dusk.
The rest of the city’s splash pads remain closed.
Kitchener’s splash pads were set to be shut down this weekend, but staff decided to keep them open into next week and then reassess based on the weather forecast.
Six of the city’s splash pads will be open, not including the one at Victoria Park and one at McLennan Park that has been closed all summer due to construction.
In Guelph, the Jubilee, Northview and South End community splash pads are reopened on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., along with the fountain in Market Square.
Waterloo Park is hosting a powwow on Saturday, and staff thought it would be great to have the splash pad up and running again for families attending the event.
The lagoon has changed its operating schedule before, but usually that means extending hours into the evening on especially warm summer days.
“This is an unusually hot September, for sure,” Silcox-Childs said.