Birch Bay Waterslides announces it will reopen two years after severe injury and closure
Owners of the Birch Bay Waterslides water park in Blaine recently announced the business will be reopening for the 2025 summer season.
The popular water park closed early for the season in 2023 after a visitor was severely injured on a waterslide.
The waterpark announced the reopening in a social media post on Thursday, Nov. 14, in celebration of its 40th anniversary.
“We took a quick pause to begin a planned renovation as our park turns 40 years old,” the post states. “We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes and look forward to sharing the improvements at the park as we begin our five-year plan for generations to come and celebrate their summer at Birch Bay Waterslides.”
The park will also begin selling season passes soon for summer 2025. No official opening date has been announced.
A visitor was injured in August of 2023 when when his legs went through the side of the Hairpin, one of the park’s four main slides.
“There was an unforeseen accident on one of our main slides,” park management posted on social media immediately after the incident. “The injury was severe enough to require shutting down the attractions. Medical response was provided immediately while EMS was dispatched. After evaluating the situation, we decided the best course of action was to refund all of our guests in attendance and close down the park for the remainder of the day.”
The visitor, who was 43 at time, filed a civil tort lawsuit May 9 in Whatcom County Superior Court against Birch Bay Jun Yu Waterslides LLC in 2024.
The lawsuit states that Baker “slid over a damaged or defective section, causing severe injury and other damages” and accuses the park’s owners of negligence, stating that they had a duty to “keep the common areas of its property safe and properly maintained for the benefit of the customers.”
The owners of Birch Bay Waterslides responded in July, denying any wrongdoing and requesting a jury trial.
Birch Bay Waterslides is at 4874 Birch Bay Lynden Road in Blaine.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 9:16 AM.
