MARYSVILLE — The combined efforts of the Marysville community materialized into the Spray Park, now open at 514 Delta Ave next to the Ken Baxter Community Center.

“We wanted to increase the quality and free entertainment in the community,” mayor Jon Nehring said. “And this is a real tangible way of doing it.”

Despite damp weather June 26, families still showed their summer-time spirit by showing up in droves.

“I’m just so grateful that there are so many people from the community coming out to enjoy this,” Nehring said.

The “sprayground” features an array of spray units that shoot from the ground. But perhaps the most innovated of features is that all watering apparatuses are hand-operated.

“It saves the water by not having it go all over the place,” Nehring said. “It also makes it funner for the kids, knowing that they can come up and activate the water at will.”

The community was pleased with the final product.

“My granddaughter has been waiting for this park forever,” said Dora Brown, who lives blocks away.

Brown and her granddaughter would make frequent trips to the site to check on its progress, she said.

Some even traveled from afar to enjoy the park.

Stefanie Howard from Lake Stevens took her youngsters. “I think it’s fantastic,” she said. “I think we’ll have to come back another day when it’s not so busy, but it was awesome.”

The park was completed in two months, but thorough planning took place years before. “We’ve been working on this for two or three years, and we wanted to make sure we got it right,” Nehring said.