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Red Deer Collicutt Centre’s new waterslide opens

The Collicutt Centre’s new waterslide is officially open.
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Red Deer’s Carter Hodder, 8, was the first person to ride down the Collicutt Centre’s new waterslide. Photo by SEAN MCINTOSH/Advocate staff

The Collicutt Centre’s new waterslide is officially open.

The Red Deer facility hosted a grand opening party Saturday, when eight-year-old Carter Hodder was the first person to ride the slide.

“I got a phone call from the city asking us to be the first sliders,” said Sheri MacLeod, Carter’s mother.

“Honestly, I was so excited. I started going around my office telling everybody, ‘Carter gets to be the first slider.’ He was super stoked to be the first one down. He loves waterslides, loves coming to the Collicutt Centre.”

The city held a contest to determine who would be the first to ride down the slide. Entrants were asked to share their favourite memory of a Red Deer recreation facility.

Carter’s favourite memory was riding the waterslide at the G.H. Dawe Community Centre.

“He kind of did a ‘loop-de-loop’ with his dad on one of these enclosed waterslides. He said, ‘It was kind of scary, but it was lots of fun.’

“He was really happy to find out this new slide was also enclosed,” said MacLeod.

MacLeod learned of the contest on social media and then brought it to Carter’s attention.

“Now I keep bugging him by saying, ‘When you’re my age, and your kids think you’re ancient, they’ll really be able to date you, because when this waterslide is old, they’ll know you’re even older than the waterslide.’”

Part of the original facility design, the slide was approved for installation by city council during the 2019 budget process.

Collicutt Centre supervisor Denis Delemont said he’s excited to see the slide finally open.

“We’ve been waiting a long time to have this slide. It’s great to see Carter here riding it for the first time – that was awesome,” said Delemont.

Required infrastructure, including support posts, were built during the original construction, so 2019 expenses are limited to the purchase of the slide and installation costs. The total project budget is $282,000.

The grand opening was originally scheduled for Sept. 28, but the completion of the slide took longer than anticipated.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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