Dave Matthews Band funds Jones Beach attraction

The Dave Matthews Band did more for Jones Beach last week than put on a great show at the beach’s Northwell Health Theater. The performer almost singlehandedly funded the newest addition to the park — with help from Ron Delsener, director of Live Nation New York and Matthews’s agent.

The new Splash Pad Park at Jones Beach was officially unveiled on July 17 — just before a torrential downpour hit the area. The fast-moving storm prevented Matthews from attending the ceremony. He performed a sold-out show later that evening.

“We’ve already had thousands of kids utilize it since we opened it Memorial Day weekend,” George Gorman, deputy regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said of the Splash Pad. “When we had hat heat wave, there were literally a hundred kids running in and out.”

The new attraction is next to the Boardwalk Café, which had reopened a week earlier, according to Rose Harvey, the state parks department’s commissioner.

Gorman said the picnic tables next to the Splash Pad are for families who want to sit and eat while the children play.

“Play is a good thing,” Harvey said. “It’s creative. It gets kids outdoors.”

Beachgoers can also use the nearby game area, which offers cornhole, shuffleboard and paddle tennis. “It’s all tied together [and] meant to compliment one another,” Gorman said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted the deplorable conditions of many state parks when he took office in 2011, Harvey said. The governor has made $90 million available every year to improve them. The first two parks to benefit from the funding were Jones Beach and Niagara Falls.

“The governor wants to deepen and broaden the experience for all visitors.” Harvey said, adding that Delsener was a big help in making the Splash Pad Park a reality.

The Foundation for Long Island State Parks held a dinner honoring Delsener three years ago, on the same night as a Dave Matthews Band concert, Gorman said. Delsener suggested that the proceeds of the dinner fund a splash park at Jones Beach. Matthews contributed $40,000 of the $100,000 needed to develop the attraction, according to Gorman — $35,000 through the Bama Works Fund, which focuses on national and international needs, according to the band’s website, and an additional $5,000 from the auctioning of a guitar decorated with Matthews’s drawings.

Gorman said that Delsener wanted to recognize his friend Chip Hooper, the band’s former agent, who died of a rare form of cancer. The Splash Pad Park is dedicated to Hooper.

Other renovations at Jones Beach are under way. Gorman said that the extension of the bike path to the West End is being worked on now, and the park’s Nature Center will be rebuilt beginning next year.

Of the Splash Pad Park, Gorman said, “It is a great addition to Jones Beach.”