Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

City adding to Wheee! factor at pool

By spring, a new slide will be thrilling guests at Highland Family Aquatic Center.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published June 30, 2006

LARGO - Thirteen-year-old Jacque Cruz screamed with glee Thursday as she plunged down a 28-foot-high, 214-foot-long corkscrew slide into the pool at the Highland Family Aquatic Center.

Jacque - pronounced Jackie - and friends Ella Peters and Robyn Sparrow glided down the slide at least 15 times in an hour.

"I lost count," Jacque said as she headed back to the slide with her friends.

Largo officials claim bragging rights for the slide, which they tout as the tallest public-facility water slide in Pinellas County.

And by spring, they say, kids of all ages will get to tackle an even steeper, whooshier water slide alongside the existing corkscrew slide.

A $50,000 state grant from Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program will pay for the installation of the new slide, which will use the same stairs and landing as the current slide.

"I can't wait to check out the new one," Ella, 13, said.

Recreation, Parks and Arts director Joan Byrne said the new slide will help broaden the appeal of the center, which was built in the 1970s.

In 2000, city leaders approved a million-dollar outdoor aquatics facility featuring a water playground with several spray fountains and minislides at the 31.3-acre Highland Recreation Complex.

"The original splash park was designed for little kids," Byrne said. "But there weren't a lot of things for bigger kids."

So the city added features that appealed to older kids, teens and young adults, she said.

In 2003, the City Commission approved a $400,000 expansion of the center that included a 14,000-square-foot skate park, lap pool and existing corkscrew slide.

It worked.

Along with Jacque and her friends, Thursday's line for the corkscrew slide included a 46-year-old man and 38-year-old woman. Each took multiple trips.

[Last modified June 29, 2006, 23:54:44]