COLTS NECK – It is hard to shut down a good thing.
And with only a few weeks left in the bathing season, the Monmouth County Park System re-opened its popular Sprayground, which had been closed for improvements and repairs here at the Dorbrook Recreation Area on Route 537.
Dorbrook’s attendance was running an estimated 15,000 visitors per week while the spray park had been closed, but jumped by an estimated 6,000 more per week with the reopening Aug. 18, said Joseph V. Sardonia, a supervising landscape architect for the Park System. It will remain open for the season to its last day, Sunday, Sept. 18.
“Like a pent-up demand,” Sardonia said. “It’s free, you don’t pay for parking, you don’t pay to get in.”
“I thought it would never reopen this year,” said Martina Krausova, 36, of Aberdeen, who was at the Sprayground with her daughter, Evelyn, 5. “When it reopened, ‘Wow.’”
The $450,000 renovation included putting in all-new features – such as water sprays, spill buckets, fountains and showers – along with new pumps, filters and treatment. The new treatment continues to use chlorine to keep the water clean, but also uses ultraviolet light.
The work also included repaving the area and expanding a utility building, Sardonia said. This was the first major overhaul of the Sprayground in about 10 years, Sardonia said.
“The (water) system was worn out,” Sardonia said. “We were constantly doing maintenance on it. They require a lot of work to keep operating.”
Ana Baquero, 41, of Sayreville came with her three daughters; her sister, Pilar Rojas, 39, of Clark, and Rojas’ two children.
“We got here, it was crowded, no parking,” said Baquero, speaking of when they got there in late morning on a recent weekday. “It’s fun for the kids. The kids love it and it’s free.”
Rojas said a Park System employee was at the Sprayground, keeping an eye on the place and maintaining order.
“It’s very respectful,” Rojas said.
The Sprayground had been fine before it closed, but not all of the apparatus were working, Baquero said.
The Sprayground includes sections for older and younger kids.
Rojas, who was there with her two children, Natalia, 10, and Lucas, 8, liked the idea of the two age areas.
“It’s a nice open space, lunch tables,” said Rojas, adding that a playground is nearby. “It’s a nice setup.
“We set up like a picnic here,” said Baquero, who was there with her daughter, Leilah, 8, and twin girls, Lexi and Naomi, 2.
“I like the kids have fun,” Martina Krausova, said. “They can splash around. And, of course, it’s free.”
“It’s nice that it’s next to the playground,” Martina Krausova said. “They can go back and forth. All they need is to get wet, splash around.”
Heather Buccellato, 50, of Staten Island was there with her husband, Paul, 42, and their two children, Ryan, 4, and Kiera, 18-months-old.
“Heard it was fun, it was really nice, something to do,” Heather Buccellato said.
The Sprayground is the only spray park the Park System operates. Its hours are weekdays 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
“We just didn’t realize how popular it was going to be when it first opened up,” Sardonia said.
