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On Friday, June 28, residents poured into Lions Park, bringing children to the Farmville splashpad’s grand opening. It was full the next day as well, with people taking advantage of the water as a way to beat the heat. But by Monday, the platform was empty again and might remain that way for a while. Farmville town staff shut down the splashpad due to some mechanical issues. 

And while staff members say they’ll have to wait on more qualified people to determine what actually caused the problem, the platform is being shut down temporarily out of caution. 

“(We won’t) know the full details or what exactly is wrong until the installer or pump manufacturer arrives to provide more insight,” said Farmville Town Manager Scott Davis. “However, two pumps are not working properly.” 

Davis said he and his staff have been in contact with both the manufacturers and installation group, discussing the problem. But right now, there’s no set timeframe for when it’ll be fixed. 

“I do not have an exact timeframe of when they will be on site as of right now,” Davis said. 

A step forward for splashpad

The grand opening was the next step in a nearly two year journey for town officials and residents alike. Back in September 2022, the town council voted unanimously to build the splashpad, placed on the same piece of property as Lions Park, but closer to the trail. Lions Park is located on West Third Street, at the entrance to the Wilck’s Lake island area. This splashpad is approximately 5,000 square feet and was paid for using money from the town’s federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Now it just might take a bit of time to identify the underlying problem and determine what steps need to be taken, in order to fix it.