Blackfoot finds way to celebrate end of summer at Jensen Grove this weekend
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BLACKFOOT – People will be able to cool off in the water at Jensen Grove despite the low water level at an end-of-summer celebration this weekend.
The city of Blackfoot is holding what it’s calling the Rainy Days event at Jensen Grove Park at 2 p.m. on Saturday. This is the second one it’s held, the first being last weekend, where the Blackfoot Fire Department pumps some of what’s left of Jensen Grove’s water and rains it down on attendants.
“There was a lot of … laughing the whole time they were getting soaked,” said Eric Bucklein, superintendent of Parks and Recreation. “Little kids were just thinking, ‘why is it bright and sunny and I’m getting rained on?’ It’s a lot of fun,” Bucklein said.
The water level has been too low for most activities for the majority of this summer at Jensen Grove, mostly due to low precipitation this year. The water that fills the grove is diverted from the Snake River, and agricultural use of the water takes priority over recreational use.
Bucklein took some measurements of the grove’s water level, and found that its deepest point is around 36 inches.
Due to this situation, he and Fire Chief Bryon Howell got to talking and came up with the idea for Rainy Days.
“I would say that the contrast between the cost of the event and the enjoyment derived from it are miles apart. It’s really inexpensive to put it on, and the people who show up really have a great time,” Bucklein said.
The fire department uses an attachment called a ‘Cellar Soaker,’ used to fight fires in basements, which sprays a rotating fan of water from the top of a fire engine’s ladder, Bucklein described.
“People (were) running around over the course of (around an) hour and a half of the spray and they had a lot of fun,” Bucklein described.
Bucklein said that the fire department enjoys the event just as much as the public.
“The Fire Department likes coming out in they’re bright, shiny vehicles with their lights on (wearing) their uniforms, and it’s a really neat time for kids to see the firefighting vehicles, and meet the firefighters,” Bucklein said.
Around 50 people showed up to last week’s event, and Bucklein said he expects to see more people as they’ve had more time to get the word out.
In the future, Bucklein said the city is thinking about starting the event earlier in the summer, which he sees as making the best of an “unfortunate” situation.
“It’s just an unfortunate circumstance with the dry season we had this year,” Bucklein said.
But despite this, there’s still enough water to make it a rainy day.
“(It’s a) cup half full, cup half empty, kind of a thing. There’s plenty of water for us to draw from,” Bucklein said.