Right now, it’s just a grassy field near a playground and butterfly garden, but in a few months, it will contain the largest splash pad in Indiana.
The goal is Labor Day completion with other amenities like a wildflower meadow to follow.
This facility will have three zones — including a zone for toddlers, and then a more “adventurous” area for bigger kids. It will be ADA accessible with no age limits, and feature a new all-year restroom.
The splash pad will be open longer than city pools — from May to October, said City Parks Executive Director Danielle Crook.
“These amenities do not require a lifeguard, so the level of water being dumped from even the highest feature is safe enough where a lifeguard is not needed. Our biggest issue with keeping the pools open longer than they are and not opening them earlier is staffing.”
That ‘staffing’ is usually students. According to the splash pad maker this is expected to be the largest in the state.
Crook says this location — Igleheart Park — is in need of such an attraction, but it took a lot of time to get to this point. Step one was to get Lloyd Pool demolished in 2023.
“And then we really spent a lot of time and thought to see what resources we have and what the community needed. And at the time, we really didn't have any free accessible splash pads with those kind of operational hours, and the north side was really lacking for amenities. So both reasons kind of made it a perfect fit for the formal Lloyd Pool space.”
The project will cost about $1.5 million, funded by a $24 million dollar parks bond, approved in 2024.
Crook said this will be the largest such facility, based on research by the manufacturer, Aquatix, which also supplied equipment for the Tepe park Splash pad.
Evansville is also currently home to the largest skate park in Indiana.
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