LOUISVILLE (WAVE) - When the dog days of Summer start to set in and the Ohio Valley heat wave keeps you and your kids cooped up inside, before you lose your cool, remember that Metro Parks has ways to keep your cool without spending a dime!
Over the years, several city pools have closed due to budgetary reasons. But Mike Heitz, Director of Metro Parks, said that spray pads and spray grounds have opened in their place.
"We now have 15 spray grounds and they've been well received by everybody and not one of them is not successful. This particular one (Iroquois Park) averages 500 to 600 people a day!"
Mikey Johnson has brought her four kids to the water park in Iroquois almost every day and her daughter, Taisha, loves it.
Other parks, such as Central Park, offer spray pads for people to cool off. They are converted wading pools with a single obelisk that sprays water in the air. They are not as fancy as the spray grounds at other parks, but who cares? You don't need fancy, you just need cool!
Heitz says that the spray grounds and pads have other advantages over pools too.
"This is open almost 25 weeks out of the year weather permitting, where as the pools were only (open) 10. It's a good mix, the kids really enjoy it and I think they get more exercise with the spray ground than they were getting at the pools."
All of the Metro Parks Spray pads and grounds are open every day of the week during regular park hours through the end of Summer. You can see a complete list of parks near you here.
Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
Kids enjoy the water at a spray ground.
There are several spray pads open in Louisville.
