Sylvan Lake water slides up for sale on Kijiji
If you've ever dreamed of whiling away your summer afternoons, whipping and whirling through a water park of your very own, this is your chance.
The slides at Sylvan Lake's water park in central Alberta are up for sale on Kijiji.
The 12 skyscraping slides, including all their pump and boiler equipment, are on offer to the right buyer.
The Wild Rapids Waterslide Park has been a summertime destination for decades, drawing tourists from across the province to the shores of the town's white sand beaches.
But after 35 years of operation, the park is set to close Labour Day weekend.
Earlier this summer, the park announced that the ever-mounting cost of maintaining the aging facility would force them to halt operations at the end of the season.
The town moved quickly to purchase the waterfront property for redevelopment. But a buyer for the slides has been harder to find.
More than 20,000 people have viewed the Kijiji ad since it was posted three weeks ago. Offers are slowly trickling in.
"Inquiries have come from anywhere from Slave Lake to Saskatchewan to Kelowna to Calgary," said Bert Messier, president of Bear Development Corp. which owns the park. "We've had a lot of interest.".
No offer may be too low. The company has several $1 offers on the table. And it could be a good deal for the right buyer, said Messier.
"If someone has the right equipment, and has a place to put them back together, a lot of the equipment is in very good shape," Messier said. "The one called the side-winder, that's the newest slide, and today that slide would probably cost $300,000 to $400,000."
But Messier said the cost of dismantling the slides could range from $50,000 to $75,000. The cost of relocation, operation, and the necessary upgrades could be in the millions.
It's a limited time offer.
Messier said a deal on the slides has to be closed by Sept. 10, since the site has to be cleared by the end of October.
If they don't sell by then, the slides will be torn down.
"We would like to deal with the right group of people and make sure it becomes an asset somewhere, but otherwise, if we don't get something attractive, we're simply going to demolish, recycle what we can, and the rest will go to the dump."
Still, Messier hopes they will be given a second life.
Even if the slides aren't saved from the wrecking ball, Messier is pleased his favourite part of the park will live on in Central Alberta. All the components for the children's play area have been sold, and will continue to operate on the shores of nearby Gull Lake.
"It might sound a little funny … but we have an area with moms and little kids, and I've met people that were on those kiddie slides 35 years ago, and today I meet them with their kids," Messier said.
"So there have been generations that have gone through there. And they're just having a lot of fun. It's just a happy place to be."
