Down the tubes: Southern Saskatchewan loses an icon as the Kenosee Superslides officially demolished

The former Kenosee Superslides site has been dismantled by provincial order, leaving behind memories for former employees. Cole Davenport reports.

In the rolling hills surrounding Moose Mountain Provincial Park, a longtime landmark is no more, with the demolition of the Kenosee Superslides nearly complete.

For more than 30 years, anyone passing by on the highway or looking across the road from the Village of Kenosee Lake could see a beacon of summer fun in southeastern Saskatchewan peaking above the trees: the infamous Freefall.

The towering waterslide was a feat to be conquered by school-age kids and adults with a slight fear of heights alike.

Jordan Howie, who grew up in southeastern Saskatchewan, has fond memories of his first time going down the drop in the waterpark where he’d later work as a lifeguard.

“I remember back in the day, they actually had a t-shirt that you could buy at the store, and it said, ‘I survived the Freefall’,” Howie said.

Today, the Freefall and the rest of the slides have been hauled away – leaving behind only a blank slate of fresh dirt for whatever comes next – and memories for the thousands of visitors who would make a trip to the park part of their summer.

“I went there at least once or twice a year in the summer. And those are some of the best memories of my life,” Howie said.

“That was kind of part of the reason why I ended up working there.”

“It’s just unique to have a waterslide that wasn’t a little one in a hotel somewhere,” said Karter Collopy, another longtime slider and later Superslides employee.

“That was a big deal for me growing up, I was always super, super impressed with it. And then when I worked there it was still cool to go down the slides and stuff like that myself.”

The provincial government ordered the demolition of the waterpark in February 2026, declaring the site “abandoned” and a risk to public safety. By mid-March, much of that work was complete.

Jan Armstrong, one of the park’s owners, said he and his family did not abandon the park – disputing the government’s assessment, but declined to speak with CTV News further.

“I’m afraid I’ve had rather negative experiences with the media and the government misrepresenting my family and I,” Armstrong said in response to an interview request.

‘Line ups down the hill’

The Kenosee Superslides were built in 1985 and opened in the summer of 1986. The waterpark would reopen every summer from then on until 2020.

During that time, as with any water or theme park, the Superslides had its share of incidents – from a suspected vandal draining all the park’s water in 2008 – more than 378,000 litres (or 100,000 gallons) worth – to a public health alert over a waterborne illness in 2013 and an infamous injury in 2017 that made provincial headlines.

But every summer, thousands of visitors would march up the hill overlooking Kenosee Lake in the summer heat – all for the reward of flying back down on bright blue fibreglass into a cold pool awaiting at the bottom. And they would do it again, and again, and again.

“We’d see, I guess an average of, like, maybe 300 [visitors]. Sometimes on really busy days, up to a thousand people coming in through the park, and you’d have line ups down the hill on some of the best days, like on the long weekends,” Howie said.

For sliders, there were seven options to choose from at the top of the hill in the main park: the Twisters, two standard, winding waterslides – one ending in a tunnel section; two ‘Tube’ slides built for inner tubes – one including the notorious “six foot drop,” side-by-side slides where riders could race called the “Bonsai” and of course – the eight story Free Fall.

A more relaxing experience could be found in the kid’s area, the lazy river or the hot tub.

Waiting at the top of the hill would be Howie, Collopy or any number of other lifeguards over the years, sending people plummeting down as safely as possible – even during “whitewater rafting”, when the waterpark would allow sliders to take rented double tubes – typically reserved for the lazy river only – down the slides for one hour a day.

“That’s when the lineups would be very long, because those ones take a lot longer to load up onto the slides, and you got to wait longer to let people down, because you kind of have to maintain a certain amount of space between each person,” Howie said.

Howie and Collopy know firsthand the amount of work that went into keeping the park operating – especially in its later years, with a safety meeting every morning and regular checks on the slides and equipment.

“Making sure there’s no cracks, nothing, nothing that can hurt anybody. Making sure the pumps and chlorine is all circulating into the water effectively so that we can keep it clean and safe,” Howie said.

‘The perfect summer job’

Howie started working at the waterpark in 2015 after graduating from high school, a natural step after lifeguarding in Estevan.

“Had a cabin out at White Bear Lake, and decided when I graduated high school, this would be the perfect summer job to do, because I’m out there anyways, and I may as well make the most out of enjoying my time near the lake, out in the summer and just be where I loved being when I was a kid,” Howie said.

Collopy had similar reasons for starting his job at the Superslides at the age of 15 – and recalls a common trade deal made with another staple of Kenosee Lake life past – the Moosehead Inn.

“When I was working there when I was younger, we had a lot of friends that worked at the Moosehead and a lot of friends that worked at the Superslides, so were able to make an exchange: pizza for sliding after hours,” Collopy said.

The Moosehead Inn, along with the Superslides, is gone now – destroyed in a fire in 2021.

The Closure

When the demolition was ordered, the Kenosee Superslides had not been open to the public in more than five years – forced to close after the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) cancelled its operating license in summer 2020.

“Are our slides old? Of course, but they’re not broken, they’re not unsafe, we put a lot of work and a lot of effort, especially in the last two years since we purchased the property,” Armstrong said in August 2020.

“We’ve done a lot of things to this park to make it even safer.”

Several attempts to reopen the park in 2021 were unsuccessful after SHA inspectors said the facilities had deficiencies. Specifics were never divulged, but owners told CTV News in July 2021 that the SHA expressed concerns about the age of the park’s infrastructure – despite structural and fiberglass engineering studies ownership said were conducted.

The last update posted to the park’s Facebook page in June 2022 said there were “setbacks” in the park’s pre-season preparations - while also thanking longtime sliders and supporters.

In the time since, according to the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, the park deteriorated. The government considered the Superslides abandoned after its lease was not renewed, resulting in the province stepping in to demolish the local landmark.

With hopes of a comeback fully dashed, Howie said he feels for younger generations who will never get a chance to ride the slides.

“It’s a big loss. Like, there’s a whole group of kids now that will never know what it was like to go to Kenosee and just spend a day at the Superslides,” Howie said.

“It had a good run and it made a lot of people’s days and made summers awesome for a lot of kids and a lot of people growing up there at the time,” Collopy said.

“It’s disappointing it’s gone, but you know, we had it while it was there and that was good.”

With files from Madina Azizi, Wayne Mantyka and Marc Smith