The new Splash Pad in Van Buren Township may soon become a tourist attraction.
The facility, the largest in Wayne County, will appear on the cover of a soon-to-publish
hard-cover book that will be placed in more than 145 hotels in the greater Detroit area, following unanimous approval of the $28,000 expense by members of the Downtown Development Authority.
The request for the expense was presented to the authority members by Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority Assistant Director Lisa Lothringer.
“It's a pretty big deal,” she told the board members. The book, titled “2019-20 Metro Detroit Area Guest Guide” will be published by Hour Media.
Lothringer said that the $28,000 expense includes four full pages inside the book which would normally cost $34,000. Hour Media will take the photo used on the cover, she said.
She added that the book could be seen in more than 26,000 hotel rooms with more than 3 million guests annually and that digital downloads of the book average 21,000
yearly.
“It is highly unusual for this opportunity to be offered to a governmental entity and we will be in the company of landmarks like the Little Caesars
Arena which was featured on the cover two years ago,” Lothringer said.
Members of the board authorized the
expense noting that the cost will have to be paid from the fund balance since this expense was not budgeted.
Lothringer also told the board that the grand opening of the splash pad drew about 400 people, about 100 more than expected and that they exhausted the supply of hot dogs and ice cream. She noted that the facility would close Sept. 15 and be winterized and is now under the control of the
township Parks and Recreation Department.
