Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest

Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest 2021 Winner: Wells Park, Albuquerque, NM

In 2021, we co-hosted our second annual Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest with Inside Edge Safety Surfaces to award a municipality or non-profit organization in the United States with an all-expenses-paid splash pad surface. Our intent in initiating this contest was to be able to uplift communities across the country each year with beautiful splash pad surfacing designs that add increased safety for residents.

One of the applications we received stood out.

The Wells Park Splash Pad is located in front of the Johnny Tapia Community Center. This community center serves a large population of low-income households and provides a full day child development program in the heart of downtown Albuquerque. The Wells Park Splash pad has a relatively small footprint but serves as an oasis for families trying to beat the heat and cool off during those hot summer months. The community center heavily utilizes the splash pad to give children an unforgettable experience when those experiences are very rare for these children.

With a new Life Floor, we will be able to elevate the experience of all those who utilize the facility. We currently have a brushed concrete surface around the interactive play features. This surface can become somewhat slick over the years of heavy traffic and repeated cleaning throughout the seasons...Staff will arrive early in the morning and disinfect the splash pad surface to provide a sanitary environment for our users. With the Life Floor material, we can breathe a bit easier when we are cleaning each morning. Life Floor will also significantly reduce the amount of slip and fall injuries we see on a regular basis. Lastly, with the many diverse designs of the Life Floor, we will be able to provide a very unique feature to an underserved population.

Thank you for your consideration.
— Josh Herbert, Aquatics Division Manager, City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation

BEFORE: Wells Park Splash Pad, concrete surfacing

AFTER: Wells Park Splash Pad, Life Floor

This entry resonated with members of the Life Floor and Inside Edge Safety Surfaces teams who reviewed entries and collaboratively chose this facility as the winner.

Our 2021 Grant Contest entrants chose from 6 unique pre-designed themes that would be custom fit to their project scope. The City of Albuquerque chose a vibrant 4-color banded pattern created from our square shaped tile featuring our Turquoise, Seafoam, Goldfish, and Sunshine colors. We included a custom-designed logo for the city as well.

The Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest’s co-host as well as Life Floor’s North American Preferred Installation Partner, Inside Edge Safety Surfaces, completed installation of the new surface in July of 2022. The crew worked with a high degree of professionalism and expertise to create a beautiful final result. Once they were finished, the splash pad was officially ready for the grand reopening celebration to commemorate the new surface.

We're excited to showcase a stunningly bright and cheerful Life Floor surface to uplift and transform the Wells Park Splash Pad in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque takes great pride in the city's logo calling out the One Albuquerque motto and we are thrilled to be able to showcase that logo custom cut into the Life Floor surface. We can't wait to hear the stories of how this installation will continue to benefit the community for years to come!

We’re thankful for the opportunity to give this deserving community a new Life Floor splash pad surface and hope that it’s enjoyed for many seasons to come. Thank you to Inside Edge Safety Surfaces for co-hosting this contest with us and for installation.


Enter our Third Annual Make a SPLASH! Contest for 2022 by clicking the button below or visit our contest page for more information.

MAKE A SPLASH! 2021 GRANT WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

MAKE A SPLASH! 2021 GRANT WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

In 2020, we co-hosted our first ever Make a SPLASH! Contest with Inside Edge Safety Surfaces that awarded a grand prize grant for Life Floor safety surfacing to Dothan, Alabama for their Andrew Belle Splash Pad. We initiated this contest to uplift communities across the country with beautiful splash pad surfacing designs that add increased safety for residents.

This year, we decided to bring the contest to life again. We received a 177% increase in entries in comparison to last year’s contest from facilities located in 22 different states across the U.S. We saw entries that wanted to make their splash pads safer (56%), more beautiful (35%), and more accessible (5%) for all types of visitors. We were overwhelmed by the number of cities and organizations making strides towards improving their communities and striving to make a positive difference. 

One entry in particular stood out to our teams. This entry showed the clear passion that the staff has for their community and the dedication they have towards making it safer and more fun for everyone. 

We are excited to announce the winner of the 2021 Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest:

WELLS PARK SPRAY PAD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

WELLS PARK SPRAY PAD IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

On Friday December 10th, Life Floor and Inside Edge Safety Surfaces called the city to the deliver the news that they had won the full grant for their splash pad upgrade. Josh Herbert, Aquatics Division Manager answered the phone and said, “Oh my gosh. That’s incredible. I came upon it in an email, and I said that would be really great! So, I took a bit of time to build it together, and, hey, never hurts to enter just in case… I can’t wait to spread the good news!"

Thank you to the city of Albuquerque for sharing your story. We look forward to collaborating together to provide a new Life Floor splash pad surface to your city!

Once installation is complete in 2022, we will be sharing all of the details behind Wells Park Spray Pad alongside photos of their renovation.


HONORABLE MENTIONS

Beyond the grand prize winner, Life Floor and Inside Edge Safety Surfaces decided to recognize two other facilities whose stories also stood out. These facilities have been awarded substantial partial grants towards the resurfacing of their splash pads.

St. Cloud Commons All-Inclusive Splash Pad in Huntington, WV

St. Cloud Commons All-Inclusive Splash Pad in Huntington, WV

This facility’s dedication to creating a fully accessible splash pad for their community showed the passion their staff has for creating positive memories for all people.

Thank you to Huntington, WV Parks and Recreation for your thoughtful submission!

Little Haiti Soccer Splash Pad in Miami, FL

Little Haiti Soccer Splash Pad in
Miami, FL

The importance of community shined through this entry. The staff that manages this splash pad truly cares about the development and safety of the children within their community.

Many thanks to Miami, FL for entering our contest to improve their community!

PARTIAL GRANTS

With so many deserving entries, we have decided to also offer smaller grants. Together, all grants total over $470,000 split amongst communities across the United States who entered our Make a SPLASH! Grant Contest.

Thank you to everyone who entered! We look forward to serving all of these communities.


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