City of Muskogee

PROJECT PURPOSE

River Country Family Water Park is one of Muskogee?s best and well-known attractions! It is an outdoor waterpark operated by the city which draws visitors from the entire region and beyond. It is open during the summer and is in need of renovations to the 22 year old facility such as pool plaster, gelcoat finishes, water filtration system repairs, etc. We also hope to enhance and expand the attraction with new features. Current features include a lazy river, large slides, a full accessible interactive playground for young visitors, a 100,000-gallon zero-entry pool, lily pad challenge, sand volleyball courts, concessions, restrooms, and party/event space. With additional funds there is a desire to create a new feature attraction to expand the capacity of the park. At certain times of the year the park has to limit the number of daily users to the Park due to the capacity limitations. Waterpark Visitor Capacity is 1122. The daily average is 800. The attendance was negatively impacted by the pandemic, dropping from as high as 50,000-67,000 visitors in one season to 38,000 in the 2020 season and 44,000 in the 2021 season, respectively.

EVIDENCE

None

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Muskogee is the county seat and the largest city in Muskogee County with 36,878 residents. It is a regional hub with residents from six surrounding counties traveling to Muskogee daily for employment, services, and entertainment. The improvements requested in our water treatment plant project are essential as it is the only source of water for 55,000 residents in seven rural water districts, four towns, including the historic black community of Taft, and two state prisons, in addition to the City of Muskogee. Vulnerable populations include 17.1% of residents over age 65 and 24.4% of residents under age 18.Further, 21.1% are in poverty including29.4% of children under 18. Muskogee County has a high percentage of minority residents with 59.9% of its residents White; 10.9% Black; 19.7% American Indian;8.8% two or more races; and 6.6% Hispanic. Minority populations in general have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic due to decreased access to health services. The opportunity to assess and improve this raw water line will better serve current residents who are now adversely affected by our inability to address these issues due to financial limitations. Moreover, the remediation of identified problems will further promote economic development and provide stability to our community.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

The POS system provides accurate annual totals for the River Country Family Waterpark. Our goal is to increase the daily average attendance by at least 200 visitors.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

One-time project will not need continued funding