Friday March 29, 2024
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Credit: KY State Parks

The grand opening for a new splash pad at E.P. “Tom” State Park will be Saturday, June 3, at 11:30 a.m.

State and local officials will be on hand to open the splash pad. Admission to the pool area will be free from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday. There will be refreshments, music and prizes.

The celebration is being organized by the Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the park. The foundation played a critical role in raising the funds that paid for the splash pad.

The youth pool at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park has not been able to open for several years because of federal swimming pool regulations that could not be met. A fund-raising campaign to pay for installation of a splash pad where the youth pool was located was initiated by the park’s foundation board. The funds were raised with the support of Mr. Sawyer’s family and members of the Louisville Metro Council. Construction ensued in summer 2016.

The park is named for Erbon Powers Sawyer, who was a Jefferson County Judge/Executive and local attorney. Daughters Diane Sawyer and Linda Sawyer Frankel are longtime supporters of the park as was their late mother, Jean Sawyer Hayes.

E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park is a 580-acre park within the urban landscape of the city of Louisville and serves as the only state park within Jefferson County. Recreational facilities include an Olympic-size outdoor pool; fully functional gymnasium with basketball, badminton and pickleball courts; athletic fields for soccer, lacrosse and flag football; a three-field softball complex; tennis courts; archery range; radio controlled airfield; and BMX bicycle track.

Meeting space is available with small classrooms in the administrative building or the large reception hall and conference room found at the Sawyer Hayes Community Center. The park also has three picnic shelters.

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