POCATELLO — The wait is over for the long-anticipated return of a water slide at the Ross Park Aquatic Center.
And Gate City area residents have not one, but two state-of-the-art water attractions to help stay cool this summer and many more in the future.
City officials, Pocatello-Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce Chiefs, construction developers, architects and swarms of children stood under the hot July sun on Friday in anticipation of the grand opening of two slides at the aquatic complex.
Ann Butler, the Pocatello Parks and Recreation director, thanked several individuals responsible for helping make the slides a reality for the local community, including members of the Milder family, who made a donation on behalf of Doug Milder.
Two plaques were dedicated at the site, one embossed with the names of city council members, state officials and the architects involved in helping design, construct and implement the slide. The other plaque was a direct dedication honoring Doug Milder, the director of campus recreation at Idaho State University from 1994 to 2020 and a chair of the Pocatello Parks and Recreation Committee from 2006 to 2018.
Gary Seymour, a family friend of the Milders, was invited to read the plaque to the steadily growing audience at Ross Park Aquatic Complex.
“This is a pretty special day for me too,” Seymour said. “It’s a little bit of closure, because he was a close friend. I met him in the senior games. We played a lot of ball games together and won a lot of gold medals. I can only try to emulate him as an individual, the things he did and has done.”
Seymour continued, “Doug spent his entire professional career promoting the value of recreational pursuit for all walks of life, and all levels of ability. Fierce advocates for and supporters of healthy lifestyles, he and his family that helped fund the Ross Park Slide addition. This gift is in remembrance of past fun-filled summer adventures here at Ross Park. Doug’s untold hours of hard work helped see to fruition completion of the 1999 Ross Park pool renovation. His dedication served as an example of his desire to provide recreational opportunities for all. The Milder family hopes this new slide will help ensure the making of many more fond memories for all Pocatello and the surrounding community. Taken from us too soon, Doug truly lived his motto — ‘Life- Be In It.’ He would want you to as well.”
After a ribbon cutting, a few names of children were selected from a raffle ticket tumbler as the first to experience the green and blue slides. After the children ascended the stairwell to the top, they were followed by members of the City Council dressed in their best summer swim attire, who took the plunge down the tube after them.
Rocketing down the tubes and into the run-out chutes, the water slide patrons sent waves of water crashing out from the sides and onto curious onlookers within the splash zone. The first young boy down the slide, Jason McKinney, said he “loved it” and it was “awesome” before quickly getting in line again for another go at the new aquatic complex feature.
Pocatello mayor Brian Blad also took the plunge before reemerging and speaking with the Idaho State Journal on the success of the new slides.
“This is awesome,” Blad said. “It’s been years since we’ve had a (water) slide here in Pocatello. We’ve got it now. We’re just excited to have many people in our community out today. We’ve got two slides, a blue and a green one and they’re both awesome to ride down. I went down the blue and it was a good ride. It was nice and fast and things looked good. I’m pretty excited about it.”
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