The Next Rocky Point?…Rhode Island Water Park in the Works!

“Rocky Point! It’s so exciting. Rocky Point! Where you can come alive. Rocky Point! You’re all invited to share the summertime! Rocky Point!” Rhode Islanders who have lived long enough all remember that catchy jingle, and those incredibly special days when you could visit the Midway with your family and friends, ride the Spider, the Flume, the Music Express, and the Freefall; see rocking bands, and generally have the most fun ever. There was even a special day at the park for all the 6th grade crossing guards in the state. Kids would get up early every day of the school year and help littler kids cross the street, just for that one day of glory. From the 1950’s to 1995, Rocky Point was a focal point for summer fun, and generations of people enjoyed the games and rides, dinners and events at the huge Shore Dinner Hall, and concerts at the Palladium; all in the incongruous location of residential Warwick Neck. After struggling with over leveraging and the need for prohibitively expensive environmental improvements in the Nineties, the park finally succumbed under its debts. The rides were sold off to other amusement parks, vandalism and fire took their course, and until recent improvements were made, with the open land becoming a public park, the joyful screams and laughter lived only in the memories of people who were there to experience it. David Cascioli remembers that joyful noise well, because he was there, managing the park for 20 years. Now, Cascioli is attempting to bring some of that fun back to the Biggest Little State, in the form of a waterpark, outdoors to start, and eventually expanding to a year ‘round concern. Cascioli believes that a brand new waterpark would not only bring immersive entertainment to RI, but that it would offer employment and financial benefits, as well. He has been trying since 2014 to get the project rolling, and currently has an Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaign to try and fund new feasibility studies, architecture, and engineering for a park in Woonsocket, which has been welcomed by that city’s mayor, Lisa Baldelli. The Woonsocket location, coming after attempts to work in Warwick, Pawtucket, Johnston, and Seekonk, looks to Cascioli to be ideal, with easy access to Massachusetts and RI residents, via I-95, I-295, and Route 146. The proposed park, would include 12 huge slides, a 20,000 square foot wave pool, a 1000 foot lazy river, and numerous activities for younger children, and would feature an affordable $35 ticket price. Because the location has changed, and if all goes well, settled, new engineering for the project is necessary, and that’s where the crowdsourcing campaign comes in. Cascioli has investors at the ready, for when the project is “shovel-ready”, but he needs help to get to that point. If you remember those awesome days at Rocky Point, screaming in the Haunted House, getting dizzy on the Tilt-a-Whirl, eating cotton candy, and winning a stuffed monkey for your date; and have a few dollars to share, log on to Indiegogo, and help Cascioli with his dream. We could all use some fun, and like the old song said, it’s a Rocky Point tradition, ‘cause it’s (almost) summertime again!