Gilroy Gardens - Water Oasis in Progress!

Gilroy Gardens is one of the smaller parks in the bay area and is often referred to being a "hidden gem." The park is loaded with beautiful landscaping and contains family rides as well. The small park is nestled among the foothills of Gilroy, CA. Since the park is a non-profit, the park hasn't really expanded/gotten any major attractions compared to it's neighboring parks California's Great America, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom or even the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

With this said, Gilroy Gardens’ first major addition in nine years is beginning to take shape.
Called “Water Oasis,” the half­-acre area will feature a two-­foot deep pool, a splash pad, lagoon
and more. Gilroy Gardens expects Water Oasis to open in June, just in time for when the weather
really heats up.

Press photo courtesy of Gilroy Gardens

Press photo courtesy of Gilroy Gardens

The Gilroy City Council agreed to allow the park to construct the $2 million water feature in August 2013. Previously, the area, which is located next to the Rock Maze attraction, housed a seasonal petting
zoo.

An overview of the site where Water Oasis will be.

The park held a groundbreaking ceremony in February. However, work on the site started as early
as last season, when workers transplanted a circus tree that was located on the site and began
clearing the land.

The area is full of trenches and pipes.

I visited the park recently to check out the progress. So far, the site consists of large trenches,
where crews are installing pipes. For now, the outline of the area is a little hard to make out. With
the projected opening date a little more than a month away, I would expect construction to hit a
high gear soon.

Coming Soon... Signs and fence surround the area.

Water Oasis marks the first step toward Gilroy Gardens’ future plans of a large water park that will
expand into the empty lots nearby, complete with water slides, a lagoon river, picnic groves and
more.

Gilroy Gardens’ last new attraction, Bonfante’s Splash Garden, was constructed in 2005.
The park has a live cam of the construction site on its website:
www.gilroygardens.org/wateroasis/live­view

Make sure you follow Thrills by the Bay for updates on the construction of Water Oasis.

Article provided by Erik Chalhoub - All photos used with permission.