OBSERVER Photo by Mary Heyl Friends Solomon McKnatt, left, of Fredonia and Aiden Kilburn of Silver Creek are keeping cool at Wright Park’s new splash pad.

DUNKIRK — This week’s scorching temperatures have forced many to seek the shelter of air-conditioning, but for the adventurous ones, nothing beats the respite of Wright Park. Despite the rumbles of thunder in the distance on Monday, families flocked to Wright Park’s beach and the park’s newest addition: the splash pad.

Naomi McKnatt, a Fredonia native who moved back to the area from Tennessee in 2009, was pleased with Wright Park’s changes.

“My family has already been here twice this week,” she said. “We can’t wait to come down here all summer.”

McKnatt said the splash pad is very similar to what her family enjoyed in Tennessee, and was glad that they could enjoy something similar in Dunkirk.

“It’s so great to see how the park and the beach have been revitalized down here,” she said. “My kids are going to have such a different experience of it than I did growing up. It’s wonderful.”

The splash pad, which opened just two weeks ago, was funded by grants from the Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.