Area pools set to open
May 23—With the Memorial Day weekend here, area swimming pools are now open for the summer.
Officials say Waterworld of Washington is ready to go.
"It's going. We are ready. There is really nothing new," said Washington Parks Superintendent Kip Kelley. "We did increase the price of admission. We increased it from $3, which is has been since 2009 when the place was built, to $4. A $1 increase, every 15 years isn't bad."
The assistant manager from the pool last year, Payton Readle, will be the WOW manager and the staff is pretty well set.
"We are fully staffed. We could use a couple of more guards to run it, but we are staffed fine," said Kelley. "We didn't really have much of a problem filling those spots. It was a little slow at first, which is typical. We start hiring in April and nobody is thinking about being a lifeguard in April."
Meanwhile in Loogootee the pool was getting some maintenance in the final week before opening.
"We're excited to get open," said Nikki Wagoner, who is back for a third year running the pool. "We have had a leak and they were working to get that repaired and open on Saturday."
Wagoner, who along with her husband, was once a lifeguard at the pool, says they are fully staffed this year.
"We had no trouble filling the lifeguard positions," she said. "I was very proactive last year and began recruiting. I found someone who is a certified instructor with the Red Cross that works with Holiday World. She has come in and done certifications and recertifications. We are fully staffed with a wait-list for people to be lifeguards now."
The pools are considered a benefit for the community and not money-making ventures. In fact, Loogootee lowered the cost for a season pass to $40.
"I'm excited that we lowered our individual season pass price. I am hoping that gives more people a chance to come see us," said Wagoner. "Our pool stays pretty busy. We get a lot of campers from West Boggs and the Montgomery Campgrounds. We have a lot of Daviess County visitors from church groups, day cares. It is so great to have the kids at the pool."
While there are no specific plans for special events at the pools, staff at both facilities are looking at some possible activities.
"We have no firm plans on anything yet on special events for this year. I expect we will have our annual back-to-school bash in August," said Wagoner. "We would love to have an evening where we bring in some food trucks for a special event. I have tried to get that going but so far have not been able to do it. I am still trying to get that to happen."
"Once again, when the temperature gets really high, we will probably have a few days we'll offer as free swim days to help keep people cool and give them a place to go," said Kelley.
Staff plan to keep the pools open daily through the start of school and on weekends through the end of August if possible.
"We will try to do one or two weekends after school starts," said Kelley. "A lot of our lifeguards are college kids who have to go back to school or high school kids that have sports and once school starts, so do the sports and practices."
"We will be open daily until the first day of school, and that is Aug. 4 for Loogootee. After that is will be weekends through the end of August," said Wagoner. "Once kids get back in school it is difficult to keep the pool open."
Hours for the Loogootee pool will be daily from noon to 6 p.m. and Wednesday evenings 6:30 to 8:30. Wednesday evening swim costs $2.
Hours at Washington are daycare swim, adults with children on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Open swim Monday, Friday and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and open swim on Tuesday and Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Open swim on Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., and open swim on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
