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Soak Good: The Free Family Fun Reopening In Ventura County After COVID Closure For 16 Months

The Splash Pad at Oak Canyon Community Park has reopened after a 16 month long closure due to COVID
KCLU
The Splash Pad at Oak Canyon Community Park has reopened after a 16 month long closure due to COVID

If you have children, you may know what a Splash Pad is - and have even been to one. The water-filled play areas for kids have recently reopened after COVID closures across the Central and South Coasts.

Splash Pads are a set of water filled fountains and showers for kids to run through, and a great way to cool off.

A Ventura County Splash Pad is now welcoming back families after a 16 month long closure because of COVID restrictions.

About 20 children of all ages are squealing with excitement as they get soaked from all angles at the Splash Pad in Oak Canyon Community Park in Ventura County on a hot summer’s day.

It’s recently reopened following over a year-long closure because of COVID restrictions.

It’s one of a handful of similar facilities across the Central and South Coast - which are a highlight for parents like Nicole Ochoa and her daughter Brielle, who is 4 and a half.

"She loves it all. It's so nice to have some normalcy and to have my daughter join with other kids. We missed it so much," she told KCLU.

Brielle agrees that it's "a lot of fun" - before running back into the spouting water fountains.

Bryan McQueen, Recreational Supervisor for Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, says he’s delighted the feature is back open for families.

Kids can also aim water at others
KCLU
Kids can also aim water at others

"We finally opened up, after being closed for 16 months," he told KCLU. "This was not a feature where it was easy to socially distance or wear a masks, so it was a tough one to police whereas pools could be open."

"We have circulated water, so it's chlorinated," he explained.

And the best bit? McQueen says that parents don't have to get wet themselves.

While parents accompanying their youngsters at the pad extol the virtues of the free activity.

"It's so nice to have this open. They have played here for five hours," one mom told KCLU. "They always nap easily after."

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Since joining the station she's also won 11 Golden Mike Awards, 6 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, 4 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and three Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Excellence in Writing, Diversity and Use of Sound.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded by Prince Philip for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for eleven years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.