It’s been a decade since the splashpad in Seymour Lake Township Park began soaking kids and it’s still a “very popular” attraction, according to officials.

“It exceeded all my expectations,” said Ron Davis, director of the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department since 1995. “I’m really happy with it. It’s been one of the better things we’ve added to the park.”

Open since 2009, the 3,185-square-foot KLR Splashpad was funded through a combination of grant money, community fund-raisers, private donations and tax dollars. Three Oxford service clubs helped pay for the splashpad – Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary. That’s where the KLR comes from.

To Davis, it seems like splashpad usage keeps increasing every year as “the word gets out” about it.

“We have church groups coming. We have school groups coming. Summer camps,” Davis said. “We ask them to call ahead because they’ll bring busloads.”

“It’s become a destination spot,” said Recreation Supervisor Dan Sullivan.

According to Davis, a splashpad has definite advantages over a public pool.

For one thing, it doesn’t require lifeguards and kids don’t have to know how to swim because there is no danger of drowning.

“As a parent, you can take three or four kids in (a splashpad) and not have to worry about keeping your eye on them,” Davis said. “The whole family can go there.”

For disabled individuals who cannot get in and out of a pool, a splashpad offers an easily-accessible place to have fun and cool off in the summer.

The KLR Splashpad is open from the first weekend in June through Labor Day.

It operates seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., weather-permitting. The “bulk” of the usage, according to Sullivan, happens between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Weather is really the big factor when it comes to splashpad usage.

“We don’t open unless it hits 70 (degrees) or at least it’s going to hit 70,” Sullivan said.

Last year, there were 101 possible days for the splashpad to be open. Weather caused it to close 23 times for an entire day and 10 times for a half-day.

That hasn’t been an issue this summer.

“We’re going gangbusters because it’s been 90 (degrees) half the summer and dry,” Sullivan said.

Admission to the splashpad is $1 for Oxford youth over the age of 2. There is no charge for residents age 2 and under.

Non-residents are charged $4 per child.

“We don’t charge adults – just the kids using it,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan noted the splashpad is used “predominantly” by kids age “10 and under.”

According to Davis, the facility is “easy to maintain and operate.”

“We clean it every other day with some rust-remover and that’s pretty much it,” he said. “We’ve never had a problem – knock on wood – with any of the valves.”

Wastewater produced by the KLR Splashpad is used to irrigate the baseball fields at Seymour Lake Park.

“We’re kind of killing two birds with one stone here,” Davis said.