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BLUFFDALE — Screams and squeals of joy filled the air as children scrambled over playground equipment at the opening of the Wardle Fields Regional Park on Wednesday.
Kimmi Brown grinned as she watched her youngest son and daughter race barefoot across the splash pad. She and her five kids live close to the park in Bluffdale.
"We’ve been watching this being built for a year," she said. "They kept saying, 'Can we go yet? Can we go yet?'"
Hundreds of families attended the ribbon-cutting as the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation Department opened the regional park at 14010 S. 2700 West.
"We’ve been waiting anxiously for this park to open," said Riverton resident Camille Schmidt, a mother of five. "It’s awesome, I can tell we’re going to spend a lot of time here."
The Rocky Mountain nature-themed park features a spacious playground, a splash pad with geysers and waterfall, a three-quarter-mile loop walking path, 16 competition pickleball courts, two multipurpose fields, two large pavilions and a full-size basketball court with six basketball hoops.
The park also boasts two racing zip lines, a 300-foot artificial bouldering wall, a 20-foot climbing net pyramid and a 25-foot fire watchtower with slides.
"That should bring out the kid in all of us, right?" said Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams. "It is incredible to come out here time after time and see how this area is changing so fast."
The park property once belonged to Charles Wardle, who used the 180-acre site for farming. Wardle eventually sold the land to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2008, Salt Lake County bought 80 acres using funds from the 2006 open space bond, and the first phase of the park fills 41 acres.
"We purchased it at that time when the funds became available, but we didn’t have the money to develop it," McAdams said. "We knew we had to buy it and preserve it until we had time to develop it into the park you see now.”
Wardle's remaining living son, Ned Holt Wardle, attended the opening.
"This is awesome," he said. "I’m sure (my father's) just tickled to death that it’s not covered with houses and those kinds of things, to have this beautiful legacy."
The park is one of three regional parks funded by a $47 million park bond approved by Salt Lake County voters in 2012. The two others — Wheadon Farm in Draper and Lodestone in West Valley City — opened last year.
Jon Ruedas, project manager for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, called the new parks "destination parks."
"Rather than doing smaller parks with mediocre playgrounds, we want to invest a lot of money and design efforts in creating something that will draw people from all over the area," he said. "It’s more than just a regular playground."
Is loving the weather at the Wardle Fields Park opening in Bluffdale! Watchtower, bouldering wall, pickle ball courts, and splash pad #slcopic.twitter.com/QL38Lp9GzK
— Ashley Stilson (@ashleystils) May 24, 2017
Another unique feature of the park is the innovative water conservation system. Water drained from the splash pad is captured, treated and used to irrigate the park's grass and 300 plus trees.
The one-of-a-kind design received the 2017 Utah Recreation and Parks Association Innovation of the Year award.
"We felt this day may never actually come, but it’s finally here,” said Martin Jensen, director of Salt Lake County parks and recreation. "It’s so fun to hear those screams and squeals, to hear the excitement of people actually using this park."
Email: astilson@deseretnews.com
