For the second time this month, Sandstone Creek in the Franklin Park Conservatory Children’s Garden is closed until further notice so the park can repaint the pool bottoms to address a slipping hazard.
Jennifer Wilson, marketing director at the Franklin Park Conservatory, said the bottom of the pools are painted with a “gridded” paint to create traction for users. When they noticed people slipping after the area first opened for the year in June, they closedSandstone Creek to repaint it.
After the paint cured – which takes anywhere from a couple of days to a week – Sandstone Creek was reopened. However, people continued to slip and slide, so the park announced on Instagram on June 18 that the conservatory would be closing the area again. Wilson said they are now trying new kinds of paint instead.
Although the pool is closed, the rest of the conservatory and children’s garden remain open as normal, Wilson said.
The pool first opened in 2018, and Wilson said they have been using the same kind of paint for much of that time. She said she isn’t sure why it’s causing people to slip this year, speculating that the company may have changed the formula for their product.
There is currently no date set for reopening the Sandstone Creek area, Wilson said, because conservatory officials aren’t sure how long the troubleshooting process will take.
In the meantime, Wilson said there are a variety of other activities to enjoy in the Children’s Garden at the conservatory, with 16 unique areas to explore, including other water-related activities.
Dispatch reporter Lilli Malone can be reached at lmalone@dispatch.com or on Instagram at @lillimwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin Park Conservatory closes Sandstone Creek for slipping hazard
Reporting by Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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