Care to purchase a giant inflatable water park? There’s one being sold here in Northern Ontario that can be yours for just $60,000.
If you frequent Facebook Marketplace, you may have come across the ad for the 2020 Wibit SportsPark.
Because it was such an unusual find, Sudbury.com reached out to the seller, and learned it’s currently owned by Splash N Go Adventure Parks.
The business’ owner, Mike Lafreniere, told us the water park set was first operated in 2021 at Vermillion Lake campground in Chelmsford. It was used in 2022 at Sherkston Shores Resort in Port Colborne and in 2023 in Timmins.
Last summer, Splash and Go operated an inflatable water park at Bell Park on Ramsey Lake, but it was a much bigger model than the one that’s up for sale.
“We've bought newer parks and bigger parks since, so this is kind of just an older asset that we're looking to get rid of,” Lafreniere said.
The water park set has a capacity for 110 patrons, and “features a massive tower and a variety of awesome obstacles." Be warned, though, that it requires a water depth of eight to 10 feet for most of the pieces.
Lafreniere said he believes it’s a great value, as the set was originally purchased for $180,000.
Water parks of this kind have a shelf life of three to five years, he said, but that’s if they’re constantly in the water.
“This one’s only had about six months used,” Lafreniere said. “So it's very lightly used, it's been professionally cleaned, professionally stored.”
A condition of the sale would be it cannot be operated commercially within a 50-kilometre radius of the City of Greater Sudbury for a period of three years.
Lafreniere said that’s just to prevent a buyer using the item to compete with his business in the Greater Sudbury area.
But he thinks it would be a great attraction in whatever community it ends up in, adding that inflatable water parks are becoming more popular, offering active family fun.
“We’ve had a lot of interest,” he said. “I would suspect, based on the conversations that we've had thus far, that you'll see it in another northern municipality this summer. But at this given moment, it's still available.”
In case you were wondering, yes, Splash N Go will be operating in Bell Park again this summer, with an opening date planned for June 28, and running all the way through until Labour Day.
Water parks will also be operated by the business in 2024 in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island, in Timmins and at Sherkston Shores Resort in Port Colborne.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor.
