Vancouver has become the home of Clark County’s first ever Slick City Action Park, a franchise that specializes in indoor slide and air court parks.
The new business opened up on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 10 a.m., introducing the community to a type of entertainment it hasn’t seen before.
“Slick City is the first slide park in the Pacific Northwest,” said Slick City general manager Mike Cardarelli. “There’s really nothing like us around here. We’ve got 14 slides between 20 and 30 feet tall.”
Slick City took over the space that used to belong to Jo-Ann Fabrics in the strip mall area located off of fourth plain boulevard and state route 500 in Orchards.
Cardarelli was working as a business consultant for 7-Eleven when he was contacted by some old friends with an idea.
“I was hired when this was still Jo-Ann Fabrics,” Cardarelli said. “I knew Jordan and Matt from my Sky Zone time and they reached out to me about building a park up here.”
Construction and installation for the park began earlier this year, and challenges arose throughout the process.
“We had flooring delays, wall delays, we had some delays with our certificate of occupancy,” Cardarelli said.
Through the process, Cardarelli kept the community up to date on the progress with constant social media posting.
“The second one I posted got half a million views across our platforms,” Cardarelli said. “The community heard about us and we’ve had a great time partnering with local collaborators, having them come in and check out the park.”
According to Cardarelli, the park opened at the perfect time with the temperatures dropping and rainy weather approaching.
“I have three kids myself, and there’s not many places when it’s raining half the year to be inside and be active and this is one of those places,” Cardarelli said. “We had a nice busy first weekend, and we’re hoping that now that more people know we’re open, that this week we’re going to have a super busy Halloween weekend.”
For people who choose to visit, they can buy a wristband for temporary access that day, or they have the option to pick a membership plan to the park.
“Our best option is our month-to-month membership,” Cardarelli said. “It’s $25 a month, it gives you 90 minutes of jump time every day, just be done by 1 p.m. on the weekends.”
Other options include a $30 membership which Cardarelli says gives two hours of jump time and also covers extra events that the park may put on over time.
“We’re gonna have other events like sensory hours, adults only nights, homeschooling, so we’re looking forward to bringing those events as well,” Cardarelli said.
The park’s opening also provides a lot of new job opportunities for the younger generation of the community, putting Cardarelli in a position of leadership that he is very intentional about.
“I want to help people in general, whether it’s my employees developing learning new skills, being accountable, but having a work environment that’s safe and fun,” Cardarelli said. “They get to slide down the slides every day to start their day.”
A big goal of Cardarelli’s is to make sure the workplace is more than just a job- he wants it to be a place employees love to be.
“I’m happy to be here and the people that come here are super happy,” Cardarelli said. “We want to provide that fun, safe environment for you to come and get your kids’ energy out so they fall asleep on you.”
Slick City is located at 11505 NE Fourth Plain Boulevard, Vancouver.
The park’s hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays.
