MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas– Nestled in the woods about nine miles west of Conroe, there is a new splash pad that's 25-feet deep with rides named "The Big," "The Small" and "The Don’t Hurry."
“I don’t like cement,” Chad Mehr, the owner said. “I like the country. I like bonfires. I like barbecuing.”
Mehr, 38, grew up fishing and hunting in Montgomery County. He sold two Woodlands-based businesses to build his oasis, Chadillac's Backyard Waterpark.
It is a secluded mud hole with a zipline, waterslides and 12-acre campground. Customers can relax, play tether ball, beer pong, watch out for snakes and “just be country,” Mehr said.
“Everybody around me kind of looked at me like I was dumb, and they were like you’re going to build a waterpark out in the middle of nowhere?," said Mehr.
Five years ago, he and his crew used fire and machetes to clear space. Now, the park hosts concerts and managers promote it on Facebook.
In six weeks, general manager Will Larrain counted nearly 10,000 customers.
“It tells me we’re doing something good,” Larrain said. “It says we’re not crazy.”