SR to greet visitors with new water feature
Years of erosion eventually caused a leak in the waterfall that welcomed people to the Village at Slippery Rock, effectively making the feature unusable.
The waterfall, which was built in the early 2000s, has been sitting idle for a few years now, and brush has entangled itself into the welcome sign. Wanting to give visitors a better welcome, members of Slippery Rock Development are planning to reconstruct the feature and make it into a fountain that will represent the “vibrant, quaint and welcoming town” of Slippery Rock.
Tom McPherson, president of Slippery Rock Development, said the organization embarked on a fundraising campaign for the project last year to make the completed feature a symbol of community pride.
“We sent out brochures in the mail, so people in town could get involved,” he said.
The project will cost about $40,000 to complete, McPherson said, and Slippery Rock Development has raised several thousand dollars from community members through monetary donations and contributions to a GoFundMe page created by the organization. The rest will be covered by the organization, Slippery Rock borough and grant money.
McPherson said construction can begin as soon as the weather gets a little better, and the project should only take a few weeks to complete.
“Right now, we're waiting for the contractor to do it, and the weather has held him up,” McPherson said.
The Slippery Rock Waterfall GoFundMe page is still available online, and has a $20,000 goal, which McPherson said is to cover extra maintenance the feature might need once installed. However, he said the new fountain won't need as much upkeep as the waterfall, which will make it a nice welcome for visitors, and a manageable feature of the township.
“We're trying to recreate it to be a welcome,” McPherson said. “It will be a fountain-type thing and will need less maintenance to be maintained.”
