CULLMAN, Ala. – As residents prepare for summer to kick off, the Palomino RV Resort at Burrow-Hamilton Farm plans to unveil a new way for guests to keep cool: an inflatable aqua park floating on the pond! Zac Wood, executive director of Cullman Parks, Recreation, and Sports Tourism, says that the plan is to officially open the park on Memorial Day weekend, through details are still being discussed regarding pricing and hours of operation.
Wood said that the idea for an aqua park has been planned since 2019 when CPRST Operations Manager Kyle Clark and Aquatics Director Diane Evans saw the inflatable park in a water park trade convention in Orlando. “They saw this and talked about it, said it’d be neat to one day have a place to put it,” Wood said, “then the RV park opened up and it became the natural spot for it.” The inflatable park was purchased from Union Aquaparks, a company that specializes in floating water parks and sells both complete parks of varying sizes and individual components for people to build custom parks.
While several details are still in the works, Wood was able to tell The Tribune that there will be an age limit: guests younger than six years old cannot use the aqua park due to safety concerns. He also said that the number of lifeguards present will follow the Red Cross recommendation of one guard per 20 guests. “In the beginning, we’re probably going to limit it to about 40 people at a time until we can figure out what the flow of people will be like,” he stated. “We’ll probably end up with about three guards keeping an eye on it at any time, and one on the beach as well.”
After discussing the details of the aqua park, Wood spoke about the RV resort in general, saying that it has seen a good turnout since opening in November 2020. “We’ve currently got 50 spaces with service hookups out here,” he stated. “We’ve got five glamping tents (glam camping) that should be open and available to rent by the night around Memorial Day weekend too, and we’re working on building some walking trails around the back here. It’s really a great spot out here.”
Many of the original buildings from the Burrow-Hamilton Farm have been kept and repurposed for the resort, such as the barns used for storage and the small farmhouse converted to the check-in office and camp store. The store features camping essentials and souvenirs for guests to purchase during their stay, as well as a game room inside and showers located nearby. Already, the resort has seen a lot of business from campers, and Wood stated that he only expects business to get better as Rock the South returns in August. According to him, sites at the resort are almost completely booked for RTS weekend.
As a final note, Wood said that over the summer, people can look forward to the return of the Second Fridays street festival. Due to Rock the South occurring in August and the strain that running both events would put on CPRST, there will not be a Second Fridays in August. Instead, there will be celebrations in June, July and September.
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