Water Wizz to stay closed in 2020

Aug 1, 2020

Water Wizz will remain closed this year after working with the Selectmen in an unsuccessful bid for state permission to reopen.

Per Governor Charlie Baker’s reopening plan, water parks and amusement parks will not be allowed to reopen until Phase 4. And Phase 4 won’t begin until there is a vaccine or treatments for coronavirus that the state deems sufficient. 

“Where is the science to show water parks are more dangerous than public pools, casinos, and other indoor venues that have been allowed to open? All other New England water parks are open,” read a post on the park’s Facebook page. 

Earlier this summer, Selectman Alan Slavin reached out to Representative Susan Williams-Gifford and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito to see if they could help the park reopen. 

“My effort to try and assist Water Wizz with something financial or opening is basically null,” Slavin said. “There’s nothing the town can do for [the park]. It’s out of the town’s control.”

Water Wizz, the water park on Cranberry Highway, typically brings in about 100,000 guests each year even though its operating season is limited to July and August. 

Because it is unable to open this year, there is a possibility that it will be closed permanently.

“I don’t know if I will open up next year,” said Park Manager Patricia Kells said in June.

She explained that if the park doesn’t open this summer, she would still have to pay taxes, insurance, and other costs, meaning she might not have enough money to make it to the next season.