The fountain, stretching up to 15 feet tall, glistens in the sunshine.
Its three pillars stand among the ensemble of tinier fountains who kneel before them.
A show begins and water shoots up from the pillars, matching the beat of the music playing.
The world’s tallest interactive fountain, known as the Nancy Best Fountain, opened on Sept. 14 in Dallas at Klyde Warren Park on Pearl and Olive Street and is open each day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Nancy Best Fountain can shoot to a soaring 100 feet in the air and includes a 5,000 square foot interactive splash pad where visitors can play among three 15-foot tall “tree” sculptures, 14 “rosebud” bubblers and over 100 small “leaf” nozzles. The Fountain’s unique design artfully reflects the details of nature present in Klyde Warren Park.
We don’t have anything like this right now and frankly, there’s nothing in this part of the country that’s like this. It is certainly an iconic structure for the area.
— Kit Sawers
“The original plan for the park included the fountain that was not built, because they didn’t have designs they were thrilled with and didn’t have the funding at the time,” President of Klyde Warren Park Kit Sawers said. “The infrastructure underneath the fountain over the highway was created to support the weight of a fountain, so this whole time, for the past ten years, that has been underneath the grass on our East Lawn, which is where the fountain now is.”
Construction of the fountain was funded by a generous gift from Nancy and Randy Best and sustainably uses recirculated water that goes through a continuous filtration and sanitizing process.
“Recently, we started focusing on getting a design we liked and a plan for the fountain and Nancy [and her husband Randy] stepped forward with the funding,” Sawers said. “We were able to start construction in January this year and opened just a few weeks ago.”
Since the fountain needed to fit the overall vibe of the park, it took the help of two companies in order to make the interactive fountain a reality.
“There’s a company called Fluidity Design Consultants out of California and they are the ones who actually created and designed the fountain and then it was fabricated,” Sawers said. “[Later], it was put together by a local company called Big D Metalworks.”
The fountain now serves as a performer in water shows. It transforms into a dancing water show set to music for 30 minutes each evening at sunset and playing in the fountain during the show is even encouraged. In addition, songs are played to compliment the show.
“Songs were selected and the water was choreographed by fluidity to light up and dance to that music,” Sawers said.
Songs that are featured during the show will change each month to keep visitors coming back for a new experience.
“Next month it will be country music and then the following month it will be dance music and the following month is going to be holiday music,” Sawers said.
Senior Isabella Campos has visited Klyde Warren Park to see the water show and enjoyed the music.
“I really liked it because they played ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA and the fountain went to the music,” Campos said. “That was really cool.”
Campos wasn’t the only person to go see the show. Senior Bobby Behrens went to see the show too and was particularly drawn to the fountain’s aesthetic.
“I loved the colors,” Behrens said. “[It] was really fascinating to see.”
The fountain is one of three new projects celebrating Klyde Warren Park’s 10th anniversary and serves as a big representative of the community that comes to Klyde Warren Park.
“It continues the mission of Klyde Warren Park in that it unites people from all different neighborhoods to come and play together and be together and enjoy what they have in common rather than what separates them,” Sawers said. “We don’t have anything like this right now and frankly, there’s nothing in this part of the country that’s like this. It is certainly an iconic structure for the area.”
