Pool season gone swimmingly
As the days get shorter and summertime draws to a close, the public pools in Washington and Greene counties are preparing for their final weekends of the season.
Most of the pools had better attendance this year over last due to the hot, sunny days in June and July, along with welcoming new customers who used to patronize Sunset Beach in Buffalo Township before it closed at the end of last year.
“The pool this year did very well,” said Chriss Marshman, Washington Park foreman. “The biggest contributor was Sunset closing down, so we got some business from families out there.”
Marshman said the city offered some new events at the pool this year, such as themed night swims and movie nights. Councilman Matthew Staniszewski, director of parks, was part of those efforts.
“We want to try some different family-oriented activities in the evenings,” he said. “These last two weeks we’ve been doing more evening swimming.”
He said because many of the lifeguards are students, daytime swimming is difficult to manage, but with swimming from 6 to 8:30 p.m., “the students can continue their lifeguard services and people can spend time at the pool after work with their families.”
Staniszewski said on July 3 and 4, the pool more than tripled the revenue it typically brings in those two days.
“Overall, our revenues are outpacing last year’s,” he said.
The Canonsburg Town Park pool also had a good season, passing its revenue estimate by more than $500.
“We had a very, very good year,” said Canonsburg Borough Manager Denise Lesnock. “I think the heat drove it, and Sunset pool closing definitely affected the amount of people that came through this year.”
She said the pool had a new director this year, Adam Manion, who brought back pool parties and swim lessons.
“We had a wonderful year,” Lesnock said. “We struggled with some repairs and leaks, which comes with an old pool. But we didn’t have to close too much.”
In Greene County, the pools did just as well, according to Jake Blaker, the county’s director of recreation. The county owns Greene County Water Park in Franklin Township, Carmichaels Eastern Pool in Wana B Park and Mon View Park in Greensboro.
He said because the pool in Ryerson Station State Park in Richhill Township was closed for much of the season due to a lack of lifeguards, they had families come from that area and from the area near Sunset Beach.
“Overall we had a pretty decent season,” Blaker said. “We had a great June and July, but August went flat on us due to weather.”
He said this season was especially profitable when compared to last year.
“Last year was horrible,” he said. “It was one of the worst we’ve had in 10 years. It was like you couldn’t go two days in a row with sunny, warm temperatures.”
Blaker said over the fall, the county will need to repair a leak at the Carmichaels pool, but the rest of the pools haven’t needed much maintenance this year.