A Saturday Night That Belongs to the Whole City
By late afternoon on June 27, the grass at Old Celina Park along FM 428 will already be filling up. Families will be staking out spots near the Kids Zone water slides while older kids scope out the Ninja Nation obstacle course. The parking situation will be sorted — more on that in a moment — and somewhere between then and dark, the sky above Celina will light up in a way that tends to make even longtime residents stop and look.
That is the rhythm of Splash & Blast 2026, the city’s largest free summer event, returning this year to Old Celina Park at 12670 FM 428. It does not cost anything to get in, and the lineup of activities is designed to run from the heat of the afternoon through the cool of a summer night.
What’s Happening and When
The event is built around two anchor attractions during the daylight hours. The Kids Zone water slides give younger children somewhere to burn off energy in the Texas June heat, while the Ninja Nation obstacle course is the kind of thing that draws a crowd of spectators almost as large as the crowd of participants. Neither requires a ticket, a wristband, or a reservation — you show up, and you join in.
As the sun drops, the event transitions. The drone and fireworks show launches at dark, capping the night in a way that has become the signature of this particular event on Celina’s calendar. It is worth noting that the drone component distinguishes the Splash & Blast show from a standard fireworks display; the combination tends to draw residents who have seen plenty of Fourth of July shows and are still surprised by what they see.
Getting There Without the Headache
Old Celina Park is a beloved venue, and that popularity creates a familiar problem: parking at a large free event in a growing city. The city has addressed this directly with a free Park and Ride shuttle service running specifically for Splash & Blast.
Shuttles pick up at Celina High School, 3455 N Preston Rd, and run from 5:00 p.m. through the evening. The final shuttle from the high school to the park departs at 9:00 p.m., so anyone arriving after that point will need to find their own way in. Return service from the park back to Celina High School continues until 11:00 p.m., which gives attendees time to watch the fireworks finish and still catch a ride.
For families with strollers or anyone who would rather not manage traffic on FM 428 after dark, the shuttle is a practical option. The pickup location at the high school also has ample parking, which makes the logistics straightforward.
A Few Things Worth Planning Around
Because this is an outdoor summer event in North Texas, the afternoon hours will be hot. The water slides are part of the programming for a reason. Sunscreen, water, and lightweight clothing are the standard advice, and they apply here.
The park can accommodate a large crowd, but the area around the obstacle course and the slides tends to draw the densest concentration of people. If your goal is a quieter patch of grass for the fireworks, arriving before 6:00 p.m. gives you more choices.
There is no formal end time listed for the event beyond the 11:00 p.m. shuttle service, but the fireworks closing the show at dark is effectively the main event, and most attendees treat it as the natural conclusion of the night.
Why This Event Matters for Celina
Celina has grown quickly over the past several years, and one of the recurring questions in fast-growing communities is whether shared civic identity can keep pace with new subdivisions and new residents. Events like Splash & Blast are one concrete answer to that question.
Old Celina Park is a fixed point on the city map that predates the growth surge. When several thousand people gather there on a Saturday evening in late June, the mix includes longtime Celina families who remember when this was a much smaller town and newer residents who moved here in the past two or three years. The event does not require anything of them except showing up.
The free admission removes the barrier that would otherwise sort the crowd by income. The Park and Ride removes the barrier of parking anxiety. What remains is a fairly simple proposition: come to the park, let the kids run themselves out, and watch the sky light up.
For a city that is still in the process of building what it wants to be, that kind of shared evening has more weight than it might appear to on paper.
Details at a Glance
- Date: Saturday, June 27, 2026
- Location: Old Celina Park, 12670 FM 428, Celina, TX 75009
- Admission: Free
- Shuttle pickup: Celina High School, 3455 N Preston Rd, 5:00–9:00 p.m. (last outbound shuttle 9:00 p.m.; return service until 11:00 p.m.)
- Highlights: Kids Zone water slides, Ninja Nation obstacle course, drone and fireworks show at dark
- Full event info: lifeincelinatx.com/splash26
