With the closure of Wild Rapids in Sylvan Lake last year, residents in Central Alberta who don't want to make the drive to the West Edmonton Mall for some water park fun, simply headed to the outdoor aquatic park at the Abbey Centre in Blackfalds. 

The Centre has done very well this year number wise, mostly due to the gorgeous, mostly rain free summer we've had so far. 

General Manager of the Abbey Centre Rick Kreklewich says, a combination of warm weather, expanded advertising, and the closing down of Wild Rapids in Sylvan Lake all contribute to the excellent year they are having.

“We’ve had actually some really good reviews from people from Calgary or Edmonton that do a lot of reviews of facilities like ours. You see a lot of people jumping on those reviews, saying ‘Oh we gotta go there, we gotta come here’. We are becoming a tourist destination, which is interesting that people from Calgary and Edmonton are coming to Blackfalds.”

A repainted field house floor, and a rock climbing wall are some of the newest features the centre has to offer.

Kreklewich says they have plans to eventually add an indoor pool, but that's about a decade way from becoming a reality.

“I think eventually down the road one of the things we are looking at is potentially an indoor pool, but right now, I would think that’s probably not going to be until we are at maybe at the twenty thousand mark, so it’ll be like ten years down the road.”

Over the past couple weekends has caused the park to come increasingly close to hitting their capacity limit of 500.

Kreklewich says the most they have had at one time is around 480, but so far they haven’t had to turn anyone away.For more information on the Abbey Centre and it’s available programs, you can check out their website.