KITCHENER - Bernie Melloul remembers jumping on his bike with his friends and racing down to Kiwanis Park almost 50 years ago for a chance to cool off and enjoy the lazy days of summer.

On Monday, Melloul was one of several dignitaries to don a safety vest and hard hat to show off the refurbished pool at the popular park. Melloul is the founder of Melloul-Blamey Construction, the principal contractor on the $4.1-million Kiwanis pool project that city officials showed off Monday at a news conference.

"Like any amenity, it obviously needed a complete overhaul after 50 years," said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic.

"This park truly is a destination for families, not just in the City of Kitchener, but throughout the region, a place where families can come and get together and cool off" in the summer heat.

Not everybody in the city is able to escape to a cottage or lake in summer, Vrbanovic said. "This is their summer getaway. It's so important for all sections of our community to be able to use this park."

The project closed the pool for the 2017 season, and involved the complete refurbishment of the facility. The old concrete basin was ripped out, the chlorination and filtration systems were replaced to meet current health standards and a splash pad for young children has been added.

The pool retains its popular "beach-entry" sloping sides, but its egg shape has been transformed into something closer to a C shape, with a concrete sandbar that juts into the centre of the pool.

The sandbar, and the lifeguard chair that sits on it, will give guards greater visibility, said Adam Brodt, supervisor at the pool. "It was always a struggle to communicate with people in the middle of the pool," he said.

The concrete apron surrounding the pool now features waves of colour - orange, pink and grey - that meet new accessibility guidelines, since they provide a visual alert to changes in the slope of the concrete.

Another key new feature is the splash pad, with 14 jets that spray water in arcs, swirls and snaking patterns from flower shapes embedded in the concrete. It's the eighth splash pad in Kitchener, but the only one with lifeguards, Brodt said.

The splash pad added about $200,000 to the cost of the project, but council decided to include it even though there wasn't money earmarked for it in the project budget. More than 2,000 people responded to a city survey about the project, with 85 per cent of them in favour of installing a spray feature for young children.

The city is talking to local businesses that have expressed interest in sponsoring the splash pad or some other feature of the park, said Paul Pickard, who chairs a city committee working on sponsorships.

Coun. Scott Davey was at the park a month ago when volunteers planted 150 trees. "I was reminded how much people care about parks, and I'm pleased as a councillor that we're investing in things that matter to people."

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The pool is set to reopen in June 2018, in time for the 50th anniversary of the popular facility, which draws 45,000 people a year from as far away as Toronto.

Updates, background information and details about the project can be found at kitchener.ca/kiwanispool.