• Several splash pads and public pools are reopening across the Columbus area for the summer season.
• Many water attractions will open around Memorial Day weekend, with some already operational.

As central Ohio braces for a stretch of warm temperatures this week, families looking to cool off will soon have more options as splash pads, spraygrounds and public pools begin to reopen across the Columbus area.

A heat wave is expected to build across the region this week, with temperatures climbing into the upper 80s and low 90s by midweek, according to the National Weather Service.

While many community pools and water features won’t fully open until Memorial Day weekend, several splash pads are already operating or scheduled to reopen within the next several days.

Here’s where to find splash pads, fountains and public pools around central Ohio this summer:

Scioto Mile Fountain reopening May 22

The popular Scioto Mile Fountain at 233 S. Civic Center Drive is scheduled to reopen May 22 and operate through Sept. 7 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. 

PERRY TWP., Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a Monday morning crash involving a semi-truck that resulted in a woman’s death.

Yolanda Medina Matos, 58, of Campbell, died at the hospital Monday as a result of injuries from a crash around 10 a.m. Monday. The two-vehicle crash happened on state Route 344 at the intersection of Cunningham Road.

A release from authorities states the other driver, a 51-year-old Salem man, was taken to the hospital as a precaution with no apparent injuries.

The release states a car driven by Matos failed to yield at a stop sign at the intersection and was hit by a semi-truck.

In its news release, OSHP reminded drivers of the importance of coming to a complete stop at stop signs and only proceeding through an intersection when it is clear of traffic.

Antonio Brent, a second grader at St. Peter’s School in Mansfield, has won third place in the 2026 Imagine Engineering Coloring Contest.

Brent’s drawing was selected from a record-breaking 10,269 entries from second graders across Ohio, according to a community announcement. He will be recognized at an awards luncheon June 13 in Columbus.

Brent’s drawing depicts an engineer visiting a construction site. The central figure, wearing personal protective equipment, reviews plans and specifications while a crew works with heavy equipment in the background.

As a third-place winner, Brent will receive a National Geographic Mega Science Lab with 75 STEM experiments.

Imagine Engineering program introduced in 1999

The Imagine Engineering program was founded by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in 1999. Since then, the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers has enlisted its members to visit local classrooms and explain what engineers do for a living.

The program is designed to help second graders understand what engineering is and how it impacts their everyday lives. It also aims to inspire students to consider careers in engineering by introducing them to real engineers and hands-on experiments.

In 2021, EFO updated the program by adding an educational resource video titled “Imagine Engineering.” The video features Ohio professional engineers who explain engineering at a fundamental level and demonstrate hands-on experiments that support the second-grade curriculum.

In 2023, EFO received a grant from the P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to expand the program to include Ohio’s Spanish-speaking second graders. The Spanish translation of the video includes a Spanish-speaking engineer to narrate the lesson and subtitles for the experiments.

“Imagine Engineering is a children’s program that is unique to Ohio, having been created by the Engineers Foundation of Ohio in the late 1990s,” EFO President Joe Cherry said in the announcement. “Over the last quarter of a century, Imagine Engineering has helped ignite the imaginations of tens of thousands of children statewide, encouraging them to focus on math and science – and perhaps a career in engineering.”

For more information about the Imagine Engineering program, visit ohioengineer.com.

This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.