With $1 million park overhaul looming, Mammoth Fest set to begin

Fans of the Mammoth Park Giant Slide, your days of waiting are numbered.

On Thursday, Westmoreland County commissioners awarded a contract to Custom Contracting of Acme for Phase I of the Mammoth Park rehabilitation project – which includes installing two big slides and the addition of a third slide for younger children.

County Parks and Recreation Director Malcolm Sias said he expects the slides, currently on order from Germany, to be installed by November and ready for use in 2020.

“They don’t manufacture those big slides here anymore,” he said.

A perennial favorite, the Mammoth Park Giant Slide in Mt. Pleasant Township closed in October 2018 to make way for $1 million in improvements.

Custom Contracting was the lowest of three bidders at just over $750,000. The price covers site preparation work, walkways and cargo nets for the slides, as well as renovation of two tennis courts and the dek/street hockey rink, Sias said.

The Mammoth Park project is expected to cost about $1.1 million, including $180,000 allocated as part of this year’s Westmoreland County tourism plan. The slides cost about $230,000, which is covered by a different contract, he said.

Phase I also includes a 9-hole disc golf course, That work will be done in-house, Sias said.

Jeffrey Associates of Indianola will install the two 100-foot slides and the 50-foot children’s slide.

In addition to the slides, the project will include a winding “scramble” pathway back to the top. People also will be able to climb the cargo netting to get back to the top.

“It’s a fun way of getting from the bottom of the slide to the top of the slide,” Sias said.

The tennis courts will receive a complete overhaul that includes resurfacing, new netting and fencing, and lines and colors for both tennis and pickleball — a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis.

“It’s a big sport now,” Sias said. “This will be our first entry into pickleball.”

The dek hockey rink also will get a complete overhaul, he said.

Work is expected to begin in June and will take about four months.

Funding for the Mammoth Park project is coming from a variety of sources, including state grants, private foundation grants, community development money and the county’s hotel tax.