Wasp infestation causes Utah County park to temporarily shut down
Aug 30, 2023, 10:43 PM | Updated: Aug 31, 2023, 8:58 am
CEDAR HILLS, Utah — A popular Cedar Hills park is infested with an unwanted guest — wasps.
The problem is so bad in a couple of spots that the city decided to shut the areas down so a pest control company could spray and get rid of them.
The park isn’t just your run-of-the-mill city park. It’s complete with tennis and pickleball courts, a splash pad and playground, basketball courts, even a snow cone shop.
Chandler Goodwin is the Cedar Hills city manager. He said the park is inviting by design and he’s not going to let wasps ruin the fun.
“They hurt and they can sting you multiple times and they don’t let up, and they’re just mean,” says Goodwin. “So ya, we wanna get rid of ‘em.”
When the exterminators showed up, they found 30 nests on the playground alone. Goodwin says they closed the area to make sure nobody gets hurt.
“We were concerned with how angry the yellow jackets and wasps would be and having kids climbing up near their nests, they might have that agitation,” says Goodwin. “So just to separate the two, we decided to close the playground for the night.”
As they searched the area, they found more nests in the fences and pipes near a couple of the tennis courts.
Rachel Bertin brought her kids to the playground Wednesday night, only to find it closed. But she wasn’t surprised. She lives nearby and said she’s had pest control come out six times this summer. One visit usually does the trick.
“We have wasps like inside of our fence posts,” Bertin said. “Even like our Ring camera constantly keeps getting set off because of wasps flying by.”
The city said in years to come, they will likely set up a maintenance program so they don’t have to close any of the parks, even for a night.
Antex, the pest control company taking care of the wasps, said it would be back Thursday morning and said its crews have been slammed this summer, dealing with the pests. You can check the status of the park on the Cedar Hills website.
Antex Pest Control can be reached at 435-313-5882.
