It was a brutally hot summer day in 2018 when Donna Houser was in Wichita for a doctor’s appointment.
As she arrived at the doctor’s office, Houser saw an amusing sight.
A smartly dressed group of professionals — lawyers, she guessed — were taking off their shoes and socks and rolling up their pants legs to walk through a local splash park.
It was the first time Houser had noticed Wichita’s downtown Naftzger Park, which on top of having plenty of green space and other amenities, also featured a splash pad.
“It was probably 105 that day,” Houser recalled. “And they were having a blast.”
The vision stuck.
And even though Houser had plenty on her plate at the time — she was still raising funds for several improvements to the football stadium at Riverside Park — she also never gave up on the idea that a splash park would make quite a splash in Iola, too.
She took her idea to her fellow Community Involvement Task Force members.
All agreed a splash park would be a perfect addition to Iola’s infrastructure, and Houser once again began soliciting funds.
It took a while, and while CITF brought in about $52,000 in donations, it became apparent fundraising alone wasn’t going to be enough, even after the group downsized the project from a $400,000 attraction to a design pegged at about $212,000.
Up stepped the City of Iola
Encouraged by some in the city, CITF appealed last spring to have the city cover the remaining $150,000 or so.
Council members enthusiastically agreed to lend a hand, and noted CITF’s request wasn’t large enough, because costs for such things as water connections, labor and equipment were going to be higher than projected.
Fast forward 12 months, and the splash park’s water structure has been installed and connected at Iola’s Meadowbrook Park on North Cottonwood Street.
All that remains is to pour concrete approaches to the street to make it fully accessible. That should be done as soon as the weather cooperates.
CITF will celebrate the splash park’s grand opening at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3.
