DIDSBURY – A small group of local residents is looking at building a spray park in Didsbury. The group is led by Gil Couture and Shelly Daly and meets once a month at the library.
Couture has already spoken to council about the proposed spray park at a recent council meeting. A motion was carried by council later in the meeting to direct administration to draft a letter of support for the group.
“We're a core group of five people looking for support to start fundraising for a spray park in town by the complex,” said Couture.
“Every town around us has one and Didsbury doesn't. A lot of people would use it but they can't travel out of town. It would be a great draw to bring in new people.”
Couture said the group is hoping to get more community members out to meetings and to help out.
“We want to put it out to the population to get their support to get this thing up and running,” he said.
Couture said they have heard from many young families in the area that think it would be a great idea.
“What (the town) has now is a 10-year plan (for the Memorial Complex grounds) and right now they have a misting area,” he said.
“We're working now with town council and administration to go with a spray park instead of a misting area. So now we're looking for people's support to help us for fundraising and volunteering.”
Couture said the group plans on raising all the money for the spray park itself.
“We plan on raising all the money ourselves,” he said. “We don't plan on going after the town or the taxpayer to foot any part of the bill. These things cost anywhere from $60,000 to $800,000 depending how elaborate you want it.”
They are hoping to get more people out to the monthly meetings.
“We're asking people to come out to the next meeting,” he said. “See if it's something you want to be a part of. It's an hour or less of your time. Come in and throw your ideas around. If there isn't enough interest for people to come to a one-hour meeting it's pretty hard for us to move forward. We need bodies if we're going to do a fundraiser or anything.”
The meetings are the third Thursday of every month with the next one planned for Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at the library.
"Every town around us has one and Didsbury doesn't. A lot of people would use it but they can't travel out of town. It would be a great draw to bring in new people."Gil Couture
