Updated May 15 with fee information

The Electric City Water Park and neighborhood pools open for the season at noon on June 6.

The Flow Rider and Lazy River will be closed this summer due to mechanical and structural issues, according to Great Falls Park and Recreation.

Because of those issues, the facilities don’t meet city safety codes.

City staff are comparing costs of replacing the existing equipment versus replacing the structure entirely.

Mitchell Pool will remain open for the summer.

Fees will not change for the water park and are as follows:

• Youth, 3-17: $7
• Adults, 18+: $10
• Monthly lap swim: $40
• Youth 10-visit pass: $60
• Adult 10-visti pass: $85

Those fees were set by commission resolution in 2024, but have shifted over the last decade.

A 2014 commission resolution set entry fees for Mitchell Pool and slides at $3 for youth and $5 for adults and the Flow Rider package at $10 for youth and $12 for adults.

City approves new recreation fees, including fees for new aquatics facility [2024]

Those fees remained in place through 2022, when a new fee structure was implemented, setting entry fees to the whole park at $5 for youth and $8 for adults.

There doesn’t appear to be a commission resolution associated with that fee change in publicly available city records.

Electric City Water Park opens June 3 [2022]

That rate shifted to $6 for youth and $9 for adults in 2023.

Commissioners reject pool fee increase [2018]

All neighborhood pools and outdoor splash pads will be open this summer, according to Park and Rec.

The Lions Park splash pad opens May 24 and the other splash pads open June 6.

Park and Rec is offering classes and programs at the water park, neighborhood pools and Aim High Big Sky Recreation Center this summer. Those listings are available on the Park and Rec website.

Flow Rider remains down this season, repair scheduled for fall [2025]

Jessica Compton, deputy Park and Rec director, told the Park and Recreation Advisory Board during their May 11 meeting that Pat King, the city’s aquatics supervisor, had recruited lifeguards through his coaching for the Rapids swim team.

The Flow Rider was also down last summer due to needed repairs.

In August 2024, City Commissioners approved a single-source contract to International Foam Pros for $128,900 to resurface the Flow Rider.

The project was delayed due to weather and crews coming from Texas for the repairs, according to city staff.

The crews needed a consistent two weeks of weather above 60 degrees bore the facility opened for the summer, Jessica Compton, deputy Park and Recreation director, told The Electric last summer.

City awards Flow Rider repair contract [2024]

The construction would shut down the entire unit, including the lazy river, so the repair was scheduled for the fall, after the water park closes for the season.

Compton told The Electric earlier this week that as they starting preparing for the project, they found significantly greater problems with the Flow Rider that expanded the scope of the project.

She said the contractor couldn’t get bonded as required by the city, rendering the contract null and void.

“Park and Recreation knows how important and popular this piece of equipment is not only to our community but to guests,” Compton told The Electric last summer.

The city’s Flow Rider is one of the originals, so repair and maintenance is available from select companies, she said.

The Flow Rider has been unusable for the past two operating seasons at the water park and the current condition has reached “surface material failure,” Park and Rec said in 2024.

Commissioners approve contract to finish splash pad project at water park [2024]

The top layer should have a smooth glass-like surface but has gone porous, allowing moisture into the sublevel and making the top level rough so surf pads can’t glide across the water correctly, according to the August 2024 staff report.

The Flow Rider was originally installed in 2001 and had major repairs and resurfacing in 2006, 2010, 2013 and 2016, according to Park and Rec.

Once the existing foam is pulled up, the city will address any concrete issues as quickly as possible to keep the project moving and the contractor will not be responsible for the concrete, city staff said while awarding the contract in 2024.

City water park closed for repair project July 29-30 [2024]

Under the now voided contract, International Foam Pros would have torn down the existing foam slides, resurfaced them with a new one-inch foam, foam coating and top coating.

The project includes 1,600-square feet of new foam with 700-square feet of recoating the exit area light blue.

The project was to be funded through the swimming pools cash balance and was included in the budget commissioners approved in July 2024.

City approves water park splash pad contracts [2024]

Steve Herrig, former Park and Rec director, requested to sole source the contract since not many contractors have the expertise and availability for such a project. Herrig wrote in his request that it’s a specialized water feature with aged equipment, limiting options.

He wrote that staff contacted International Foam Pros in 2024 about their ability and availability for the project and after a site visit and discussion with staff, provided a favorable quote.

During an April 20 meeting, city departments presented their budget overviews to commissioners.

Wrapping up that meeting, City Manager Greg Doyon said that since the Electric City Power debacle, the city had tried to “pivot to public safety” and reduced general fund support to other activities.

But that didn’t work, he said, since costs continued to rise and the city didn’t build enough capacity to support those.

So a lot of the budget conversation now, Doyon said, is fleshing out what the community really wants and determining their tolerance to fees and assessments for Park and Rec programs or fire and police.

Voters approved the park district assessment for Park and Rec improvements in 2018 and increased mills for the Great Falls Public Library in 2023.

Voters rejected both a public safety levy and bond in 2023 and a public safety levy in 2009.

“Are there things we could do without,” Doyon said, as things are breaking, including an “amenity” that wouldn’t be available this year, referring to the Flow Rider, but not naming the amenity, though it had been previously discussed at Park and Rec board meetings.

Pools lose money, Doyon said and the question is “what is the public willing to pay to support those amenities?”

Commissioner Casey Schreiner said that he understands the desire for government to function like a business, but it’s not and government systemically and functionally does different things, plus lots of businesses fail.

He said he’s heard concern from the public about what will happen with quality of life aspects, particularly Park and Rec.

Public safety can be most important, he said, but it’s not the only thing government is responsible for.

Commissioner Rick Tryon said the community is asking questions about what we need and why is the city paying for certain amenities when it’s asking for public safety levies.

He said he hears questions from the public about why the city is providing amenities that compete with private sector businesses.

During the Feb. 17 work session, Compton, deputy Park and Rec director, told commissioners the Flow Rider was “pretty bad.”

Her presentation slides included “concerns” for 2026: Lazy River/Flow Rider cost to repair.”

She said they planned to open the neighborhood pools and offer some different options at the water park.

The neighborhood pools will also need repairs, including liners, recoating the slides and redoing some decking, Compton said in February.

The city will continue budget discussions over the coming months as staff typically transmits the budget to commissioners in June for adoption in July.

For more information, visit the Park and Rec website, call 406-771-1265, or email parkrequests@greatfallsmt.net. The Park and Rec administration office is located at 1700 River Drive N., and Aim High Big Sky Recreation Center is located at 900 29th St. S.