Splash pad closing for season; playground work underway at Pioneer Park

The Hodag Park Splash Pad will close for the season on Monday, Sept. 14, the city of Rhinelander announced last week, while dismantling of the aging Pioneer Park playground is set to begin days earlier as the city prepares to install new equipment.

The Vancos Family Community Splash Pad, a $600,000 water play facility funded almost entirely through community donations and opened in a May 22 ribbon-cutting ceremony, will remain open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Sept. 13, according to a post on the city’s Facebook page. Organizers with the Rhinelander Kiwanis Club, which spearheaded the fundraising effort alongside a $150,000 lead gift from donor Bill Vancos, encouraged families to use the facility before it shuts down for the season.

At Pioneer Park, crews were scheduled to begin dismantling the current playground equipment starting on Sept. 8 in preparation for a new all-inclusive playground structure, the city said. The playground will be unusable during the work. The old equipment will be recycled rather than sold or given away.

That disposal plan follows discussion at a July Rhinelander Common Council meeting, where Public Works Director Tom Roeser said he was reluctant to give away the aging equipment because of its age and the risk that deteriorated material could injure someone.

The playground equipment purchase was funded through a combination of previously earmarked borrowing, downtown tax incremental financing (TIF) and savings generated when the city’s Streets and Parks departments completed the new Hodag Park bathrooms in-house rather than contracting the work out.

With the Pioneer Park playground closed during construction, the city noted that playgrounds at Hodag Park and Sarocka Park will remain open for public use. No date was given for the reopening of Pioneer Park.