Lilburn City Park will offer visitors a new way to stay cool this summer.
Lilburn City Council greenlighted the installation of an approximately $195,000 splash pad in the park, located in the heart of the city’s Old Town neighborhood. It will open this summer next to the Calvin Fitchett Pavillion, an approximately 3,000-square-foot covered sitting area opening at the same time.
Paying homage to Lilburn’s history, the splash pad features water buckets, alluding to the “Bucket Brigade” volunteers that saved the Old Town neighborhoods in the 1920s by putting out a devastating fire with buckets of water.
The structure holding the water buckets resembles railroad tracks and a “cowcatcher,” the device affixed to the front of trains to deflect obstacles that could cause a train to derail from the tracks. Known as a railroad town, the Gwinnett city received its name from Lilburn Trigg Myers, the general superintendent of the railway in the 1890s.
The city chose a dark color for the structure to mirror the buildings in Old Town, foregoing the usual bright colors used for other splash pads. Constructed by Aquatix by Landscape Structures, the splash pad recirculates and treats the water like a pool, which will prevent the city from wasting water while also ensuring it stays clean for children.
It also includes lights to illuminate water as it shoots out of the ground jets, allowing kids to play in the pad while their parents enjoy a nearby performance in the park, said Mayor Tim Dunn.
“(Splash pads) are the safest things for kids, and they love standing over (the jets), anticipating which one is going to squirt up next,” Dunn said. “I don’t think my 6-foot-3 grandson will be playing in it, but I have great-grandchildren. When they visit, they’ll definitely be interested in it.”
Lilburn officials started planning for the splash pad when residents listed it as their top request in a “Plan Our Park” survey distributed in 2015, with the city subsequently allocating dollars from the general fund for the project.
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