Dove Park Pool gets slides, beach entry, climbing wall

On the south side, a shaded, gently sloping beach entry with bubblers and geysers will accommodate the littlest users. Kids will be able to use a climbing play structure or take a ride down a mini-slide.

A curving in-pool shelf submerged in six inches of water will hold lounge chairs where parents can keep cool while watching the kids.

Steps up to the shelf can serve as seats for "Mommy and Me" swim classes.

The pool will accommodate older swimmers as it goes north. A balancing waterwalk with floating logs and an overhead rope will be on the east side. On the west, pre-teens can hang out on floatables and try their skill on a Lucite climbing wall.

The pool will have two slides at the north end. One will end above the water, so sliders drop in the pool. The other will have two twists before it ends at a run-out trough.

Across the park, longtime Grapevine residents might have been sad to see the Casey's Clubhouse playground disappear recently, as workers took it down and began leveling the ground.

But what's coming next is a $1.25 million redo that will include cutting-edge accessibility (see below) and lots to do.

The play area, which was accessible to disabled children, was dedicated to Casey Tridico more than a decade ago. The Grapevine girl suffered from spinal muscular atrophy and died a little more than 17 years ago, at age 7.

The project started when the business where her father worked wanted to dedicate a memorial to Casey. Her parents, Louis and Debra Tridico, met with city officials and eventually a playground was built that disabled children could use.

"When I would take her to a park, she would end up just sitting by me," Debra Tridico said. "All the kids would run up to the highest part of the playground. We just wanted something where no kid would be left behind."

She said Casey would have been "ecstatic" about the new playground.

Besides the special features, a zipline will be installed, as will a wheelchair-accessible clubhouse.

The water-squirting Dove dolphins will be back, honoring the connection between the park and Dove Elementary School across the street, whose mascot is the dolphin.

The turtles from the original Casey's Clubhouse, Daisy and Skippy, also will return, skiing behind a boat.

Elsewhere, the basketball and tennis courts are being refurbished to include resurfacing, new fencing and new Lucite backboards. Those projects are being done with the city maintenance budget.

New, high-tech lighting for the tennis and basketball courts was added using money from the quality of life fund.