SPEARFISH — City officials in Spearfish have decided not to open the Spearfish water park for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the Spearfish City Council meeting Monday, the city’s parks and recreation director recommended the popular waterpark remain closed.
Tyle Ehnes says the COVID-19 pandemic has created some major hurdles for staff to overcome to open and operate the water park.
Time was one of the biggest factors in his recommendation to keep the park closed. He said it generally takes four to six weeks of preparation to get the park ready to open for the public. The department would have to immediately assign more personnel to the task if the scheduled opening date of May 23 was to be kept. Furthermore, he says they would not have enough time to properly train and staff lifeguards.
With projections suggesting South Dakota’s peak infection could reach well into the summer, Ehnes said group limitations and the sanitizing of pool equipment would also present an issue.
