Beech Bend Announces Massive Water Park Expansion

At a public press conference today, the owners of Beech Bend Park announced a multimillion dollar project that will see the size of Splash Lagoon water park grow by leaps and bounds. The planned expansion, which will be the largest in the park's history, includes the addition of a 275,000-gallon wave pool, a 1100-foot lazy river, and a four-story interactive water play structure. The entire project is expected to be completed in time for the 2010 season.

But that's not all! In addition to the water park expansion, Beech Bend will also be making some upgrades on the "dry" side of the park. They had previously announced the addition of a Quad Runner children's ride as well as a family-size Zamperla teacup ride for 2010, and today they revealed that a new amphitheater will also be constructed. Dressing rooms will be added as well.

These improvements will benefit not only Beech Bend guests, but the entire local economy. In addition to all the extra hands that will be required simply to make this expansion a reality, park owner Dallas Jones stated that he expects it to create approximately 50 new jobs at the park after it is complete.

According to an article in the Bowling Green Daily News, Beech Bend will be giving its loyal fans ample opportunity to participate in the fun by holding a naming contest for its three new water park attractions. The contest will run through December 31, 2009 and the winners will receive a family four-pack of tickets to the park! All you need to do is e-mail your suggestions to Beech Bend with a subject line of "contest".

It's reassuring to see that a smaller traditional park is capable of pursuing such an ambitious project in these tough economic times. I'm sure Beech Bend will release even more renderings of the water park expansion after they recover from their big day. In the meantime, you can check out the ones in the Bowling Green Daily News as well as this TwitPic link (a larger photo of the overall conceptual design) that was posted by a fan on the park's Facebook page.