Cascades d'Eau Piedmont

Opened in 1982, the Cascades d'eau Peidmont, then Quebec's oldest water park, closed its doors in 2010 when the owners, Mont Saint-Saveur International, decided to consolidate their operations at a nearby park they also owned. Some of the newer slides were moved to this park, while the others, older and at the end of their service life, were dismantled. Many of the rides are visible in available Streetview and Google Earth views from 2011 through 2013.

Today, it is a different story. Gone are the giant slides, the iconic faucet - once visible from Highway 15, the change rooms and canteens, the sounds of laughter and the splashes of water. What remains are the paths - trees making a home in the cracked asphalt, the pools, filled with scummy water and debris, the infrastructure - destroyed and useless, painted tiles where change rooms once stood, a massive parking lot and a genuine sense of isolation and loneliness.

The land was sold in 2013 for $3.55M to real estate developers. Given the area is zoned only for an aquatic park (which, upon reflection, might seem just a bit too specific), it is little wonder the land remains in this state some three years later.

There were two sections to the park, joined by a long driveway. We only got to the lower one on this visit. There is a chained gate at one entrance and concrete blocks prevent access at the other. Flooding added as a hazard as there is some rather nasty water in the pools and OAP may make a visit someday...:-)