The Thunder slide at Village Square Leisure Centre in northeast Calgary will be celebrated Aug. 30 with a retro party, which will be attended by Andrew Phung, who said the slide deserved a proper sendoff. Jim Wells/Postmedia

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The Thunder Run waterslide at Village Square Leisure Centre will get a proper send-off, thanks to Calgary actor and comedian Andrew Phung.

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At the time, Mayor Jeromy Farkas voiced his support, if the logistics could be worked out.

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In a social media post on Thursday, Phung unveiled the city’s plan for the slide’s last hurrah — a full-day, all-ages event that pays homage to the slide’s birth year of 1994.

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The Last Ride Down the Thunder Slide will take place Aug. 30, with ‘retro’ admission pricing of $4 and a DJ. To accommodate the number of people expected to come out, the day will be broken up into two swimming sessions — the first from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the second from 2:30 to 6 p.m.

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Though many commenters have thanked Phung for making the event happen, he didn’t take the credit. He pitched the idea, but the city did the planning.

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“My vision was a big party at the Village Square Leisure Centre, and they ran with the vision,” he said.

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Calgary’s Andrew Phung, of the CBC sitcom Kim’s Convenience, grew up in northeast Calgary and worked at Village Square Leisure Centre. His call for a going-away party for the iconic Thunder Run was heard by city officials and he’ll be there.

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Once a date had been solidified, Phung said, the city reached out to him to ask if he could make it. Phung, who’s currently living in Toronto and working on a new project, rearranged his schedule to ensure he could fly home for the event.

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His plan is to make an appearance at the first session, and to stick around for the second.

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“I’m going to try to bring a camera crew with me,” he said. “I think it’s a special event, so I want to capture some of those moments.”

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The slide, the leisure centre and the adjoining library were integral parts of his childhood, Phung said, and he’s carried those memories with him in his career.

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“Growing up in the northeast, we kind of raised each other. All of our parents were so busy working, and many of us came from single-parent homes,” he said.

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“I was raised on the Thunder Run. I spent summers there. We didn’t have babysitters or day camps. We would just get sent to the leisure centre with a summer pass.”

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Upon learning the slide would be torn down, Phung said he was hit with “this wave of nostalgia and gratefulness.”

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“It is a landmark of the northeast of Calgary,” he said. “We’re seeing a place that was so special to us in our childhood in our youth go away, and we’re at the right age where we can go celebrate it.”

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The new Thunderrun waterslide while it was under construction in October, 1994. Mike Sturk/Calgary Herald

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In a Friday statement, the city of Calgary said the Thunder Slide has “created memories for generations of Calgarians.”

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“It’s clear how much the slide means to people who grew up visiting this facility. It has been a backdrop for family outings, childhood milestones and lasting community memories,” the statement said.