The Red Lion Hotel at the Park in Spokane, Washington, celebrated the grand opening of its new 28-ft (8.5-m) waterslide, waterfall and updated pool area in a unique way: Area General Manager Patrick Shimon made the inaugural slide into the pool fully dressed in a business suit.
Hotel staffers challenged Shimon to take the plunge as a recreation of the event that marked the hotel’s grand opening in 1983. Back then, Don Barbieri — who was part-owner of the hotel and is now chairman of the board of directors of Red Lion Hotels Corp. — had lost a bet with a contractor that the pool would not be ready for the grand opening, and took to the waterslide fully dressed.
The new waterslide features an 11-ft (3.4-m) top-to-bottom drop and is located next to a 6-ft (2-m) waterfall accentuated with LED lighting in six rainbow colors. The mound from which the waterslide and waterfall cascade is landscaped with weeping cedars, white pine and weeping Norway spruce and fashioned to mimic a native Pacific Northwest scene. The pool’s concession area has been updated as well.