Overview of the Businesss

The Republic Parks and Recreation department has operated a Municipal Pool since the sixties. Southern Missouri is hot as blazes in the summer, and in 2003, the 25 meter pool with 10 lanes was open for 85 days. The facility charged $2 - $2.50 for admission. For 2003, the facility attracted 8,100 swimmers, generating $22,600 in revenue while operating at a loss of $139,400.

The Challenge

The goal of Republic Aquatic Center was to provide services to the community without being a drain on public funds.

According to Jared Keeling, Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Republic, the original plan was to build a new municipal pool, but there was the fear that a bigger pool would just be a bigger drain on public funds.  A municipal waterpark was a more ambitious idea, and supporters argued that instead of draining public funds, guests and business would flow in from a 25-mile radius around Republic.

In August of 2003, the City of Republic presented the issue to voters, asking:

“Shall the City of Republic Missouri impose a sales tax of 1⁄4 of 1% for the purpose of funding local park improvements? Including but not limited to the construction, operation, and maintenance of an Aquatic Facility. Such tax to terminate in 20 years.”

The ballot issue passed and the city imposed a ¼ cent sales tax which raised $400,000 a year.  This $400,000 would be used as income to pay for the loan of $4,000,000 the City took out to build the waterpark.  Any extra money from the sales tax would pay for other park improvements: “We kind of stuck our necks out,” said Jared Keeling. “But the tax passed by a margin of 74% to 26%. But we needed to do something. The old pool was just a big concrete pond with no slides or diving boards, and there had been a steady decline in attendance. No one was going because there was nothing to do there.”

The Solution

The City of Republic invested $4 million to build a 400,000 gallon municipal waterpark which included a Zero Depth Play Structure, a Therapy Area, a Children’s Play Area, two waterslides and a 25-yard lap pool with six lanes. The park’s piece de resistance was a FlowRider^® Single: “The Parks and Recreation director before me flew down to Florida a couple of times to check out the FlowRiders there,” Keeling said. “They thought it could be something unique and have a lot of draw not just in Republic but over the whole region. We went ahead and included a FlowRider in the master plan but when we went to bid it came in over. We stuck our necks out again and borrowed more money but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made.”

The FlowRider is the waterpark industry’s only sporting attraction.  Although available to a broad demographic that ranges from 7 years to 70+, the attraction is a challenge to ride.  It takes balance and focused attention to master controlled skimming over a high velocity sheet flow of water.  As one progresses, there are different levels of mastery, from lay-down bodyboard, to knee-riding,  drop-knee,  stand-up,  carves,  spins,  shove-its, and kick-flips, the learning never stops.  The more you ride, the more you want to ride.