LEWISTON – A new splash pad and play fountains in Kennedy Park are a big hit, according to city officials.

But today’s the last day the splash pad can be used – it’s closing for the season – until next summer.

It was built in between the Kennedy Park swimming pool and new basketball courts along Park Street. It opened quietly earlier this month, just before the swimming pool closed for the summer.

“But we wanted to keep it open another two weeks, just to get our staff used to it,” said Maggie Chisholm, city parks and recreation director. It will reopen in June with the swimming pool.

“I had one of the kids tell me they had more fun there than they did at Aquaboggin,” Chisholm said. “But this time of year, kids tend to wean themselves away from the swimming pools. The weather is changing, school is starting and they’ve moved on.”

The fountains are part of the downtown park’s renaissance that started with the construction of a skate park at the corner of Park and Spruce streets. That forced the city to relocate the basketball courts to the middle of Park Street.

The splash pad replaces the old wading pool. The pad features several fountains that spray water in different shapes. Children run from one feature to the next, getting soaked in the process.

The next step for the parks is the proposed construction of a new pool house, office and rest rooms for park users. Expected to cost about $200,000, it is proposed for just north of the pool and the splash pad. Chisholm also hopes to make a new children’s playground, with new equipment, part of that project.