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Swim into Summer: Pools to open Memorial Day weekend
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If your ideal way to enjoy a summer weekend is by staying cool in a pool, the three maintained by Greene County are in tip top shape.
At least that’s what Jake Blaker, director of recreation for Greene County, has to say about one of this area’s pools, which opened May 25 for the three-day Memorial Day weekend. The waterpark in Waynesburg open at noon, and the Carmichaels pool and Mon View in Greensboro open at 1 p.m.
“We’ve been painting and filling our three pools with water and training our 40 to 50 lifeguards, which is a nonstop activity throughout the summer,” he said. “One of the bigger projects we recently undertook was finding and repairing a leak in the Carmichaels pool.”
Carmichaels pool features a 300,000-gallon Z-shaped pool with an 11-foot diving pool, a diving board, an 8-foot water slide and a 70-foot spiral water slide, lockers, restrooms, showers, changing facilities and snack machines. The pool also features an over-3,000-gallon splash pool play area with zero-depth-entry and water features including a sculptured palm tree, spinning toad stool, spraying posey, bumble bee and super soaker.
Mon View Pool features a 168,262-gallon pool with a 40-foot water slide; a children’s play area with a 4,000-gallon, zero-depth-entry wading pool, sprinklers and benches and a 12-by-10-foot Aqua Climb poolside climbing wall.
The waterpark features a 330,000-gallon competition-sized pool with eight lap lanes, two diving boards and a 12-foot diving pool; a 40-by-40-foot children’s play area including a 148-foot spiral water slide, a 25-foot straight water slide, a 180-foot “lazy river” with tubes for floating, water jets and other play equipment; a bath house with lockers, restrooms, showers and changing facilities and a concession stand and seating area.
Blaker said it takes a week and a half to heat pools of this size, and that the waterpark is the only one of the three that’s heated.
“When we start heating the waterpark pool depends a lot on the weather,” he said. “It usually takes four days to heat the pool, but when you have cool nights like we’ve been having, it’s a waste of time.”
The water park also offers a community room to rent for birthdays or other special events in June and July for two hours at a rate of $50, from either 1 to 3 p.m. or 4 to 6 p.m. Standard admission prices apply.
“Last year attendance at our pools was down because of the rainy summer,” Blaker said. “The last three years have been the wettest I’ve encountered over the past 29 years. Hoping for a dryer summer this year.”
The Waynesburg pool employs eight or nine lifeguards at a time, depending on how many attendees there are. Carmichaels has eight while Mon View in Greensboro, the smallest pool, has four. Lifeguards earn $9 to $11 an hour and the minimum age is 16. Many of this summer’s lifeguards are returners from last year.
Blaker advises that pool-goers bring adequate sunscreen as well as money for water, snacks and food. The water park in Waynesburg is the only one that serves food (hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and walking tacos) but the other county pools have snack machines.
Following Memorial Day, the three pools will be closed Tuesday, May 28 through Friday, May 31 while school is in session. The three sites will be open daily beginning Saturday, June 1. Waterpark hours will be noon to 7 p.m. The hours for Carmichaels and Mon View pools are from 1 to 7 p.m daily.
Admission prices for the waterpark are $6 for children age 17 and younger and senior citizens 62 and older, and $8 for adults between 18 to 61.
Admission rates at both the Carmichaels and Mon View pools are are $4 for children age 17 and younger and senior citizens 62 and older and $6 for adults between 18 to 61.
The “Canary Library” will return again this summer. While the pools are open, carts holding library books of interest for all ages will be available at each of the sites. Children and adults alike are encouraged to take a book, read and enjoy it, then either return it to the cart or keep it – all for free and without a library card.
This summer the Department of Recreation will offer swimming lessons at the waterpark and the Carmichaels pool.
Registration for swim lessons will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, at the waterpark and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 30 at the Carmichaels pool. Those unable to attend the registration may register their child during pool business hours up until the first day of class, as space permits.
Lessons are $25 per class, and payment will be due upon registration. Each class is designed for swimmers of certain skill levels, and class instructors will determine which class to place each swimmer. A minimum of five swimmers must be registered for each class to run with a maximum of 15 swimmers per class.
For more information about swimming lessons, phone 724-852-5323, or visit website www.co.greene.pa.us.
“I consider the pools a quality of life issue, and the Greene County commissioners want to offer our residents a clean, safe and well-guarded recreational resource,” Blaker said.