Historic Hangout

HISTORIC HANGOUT

Beech Bend Park and Splash Lagoon keeps the thrills coming

BY JEN CALHOUN

When families first started packing up their buggies and heading to Beech Bend in the late 1800s, they brought picnic baskets and bathing suits to enjoy the river and the summer air.

More than a century later, the crowds keep coming. But the attractions offered at the Bowling Green destination are a bit more sophisticated, says Charlotte Gonzalez.

Gonzalez helps run Beech Bend Park and Splash Lagoon with her parents, Dallas and Alfreda Jones, and her sister, Dana Porter. “We have over 400 campsites now,” Gonzalez says of the 368-acre park situated on a bend of the Barren River. “We have a drag strip and a stock car track, an amusement park and a water park.”

RICH HISTORY

Once a farm, the park grew popular in the late 1890s as a place for families to picnic and enjoy what was then a beach on the bend of the river surrounded by Beech trees. Beginning in the 1940s, however, then-owner Charles Garvin started building other attractions for visitors to enjoy, including a large pool, carnival rides and a drag strip.

It wasn’t until 1984 that Dallas and Alfreda Jones got involved, Gonzalez says. “My family bought the racetrack in 1984,” she says. “Charles Garvin had passed away, and the amusement park had gone into disrepair. The Garvin family came to us and asked us to buy the rest of the property. They believed it all belonged together. So, in 1987, that’s what we did.”

ROLLING, RIDING AND RACING

At first, Gonzalez says the family wasn’t quite sure what to do with the old-time amusement park. Slowly, however, they began bringing it back to life, one ride at a time. Today, the amusement park features more than 30 rides, including the Kentucky Rumbler, a wooden roller coaster that brings in coaster enthusiasts from around the world. “Just recently, four men from the Netherlands were here to ride it,” Gonzalez says.

But if riding the rails sounds exciting, the water park facilities sound downright exhilarating. The water park started with an improved version of the large leisure pool first built by Garvin around 1950. In 2010, the family added a lazy river, a wave pool and a large children’s play structure called Tiki Island. In 2016, they contracted with one of the top waterslide design companies in the world to add four new waterslides — The Tidal Wave, Riptide, Polynesian Plunge and Cyclone Saucers. “They’re all thrill slides,” Gonzalez says. “They’re fast and exciting. People just love them.”

If you go. . .

Beech Bend Park and Splash Lagoon offers an amusement park, a water park, campgrounds and a racetrack. About six times in the summer, the park holds a fireworks display on Friday evenings along with extra evening hours for the water park and amusement park. The park is open from May to September, but the raceway holds events from March through most of November. For information on ticket prices, hours, directions, attractions and more, check out their website at beechbend.com. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.