Finding Summer Fun School’s Out For The Summer, But There Is Still Plenty To Do And Learn. From Swim Teams To Science Camps, The Valley Is Abuzz

Summer’s almost here and parks, pools and playgrounds are gearing up for an influx of people looking for fun in the sun.

The last of the Spokane Valley’s school districts will close for the summer Friday, unleashing hundreds of children.

They’ll flood places like Splash-Down, beg to go to basketball and soccer camps, and hang out at the lake with families and friends.

But there’s a plethora of activities available for adults too - from fishing and boating on lakes to hiking and biking in county parks.

The county pools, which open on June 23, will be a big draw for children and families. Everyone above age 6 will have to pay $1 to get into Valley Mission, Park Road and Terrace View pools. Admission is free for children under age 5.

From 8:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m., pools are reserved for the 4,000 children who take swimming lessons every summer. Lessons begin on June 26.

Public swim schedule will be Monday through Friday from 1 to 2:30, 2:45 to 4:15 and 4:30 to 6 p.m. Valley Mission Pool also will be open Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 2:30 and 2:45 to 4:15 p.m.

Summer swim team, for ages 6 to 17, will begin July 10, with a final meet held on Aug. 12. The fee is $17 per person.

Lake resorts are gearing up for the summer but some already are going full speed.

Sutton Bay Resort on Newman Lake opened a little early - at the end of April - because of the nice weather. The resort offers boat docking, camping and cabins for rent.

“You see the same faces, but every year we’re adding new ones,” said Jan Kittelstved, an employee. She’s hoping for a profitable summer, “but with Spokane weather, you just never know.”

Osborne Cherokee Landing Resort on Newman Lake caters mostly to anglers, selling tackle and boat gas and renting rowboats. Cherokee Landing is open year-round but does 90 percent of its business in the summer, said owner Clare Osborne.

For those who seek summer fun without the help of resorts, parks or pools, the Spokane River and Centennial Trail can provide hours of enjoyment.

When July rolls around, Valley tire companies are hit up by people wanting tubes to float the river.

Perfection Tires manager Jim Tiffany said his shop sells about 50 to 60 tubes per summer for $6 a pop, Tiffany said.

In-line skating on the Centennial Trail is hot this time of year, but starts to wind down at the end of June, said Robin DeRuwe, owner of Fitness Fanatics, on East Trent.

“In July, it’s hot and people go to the lake,” she said. Fitness Fanatics, in addition to renting skates, offers lessons on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings on the Centennial Trail.

Contrary to most recreational business owners, Colleen Bernstein, manager of Roller Valley Skate Center, is praying for anything but sun this summer.

“I’m hoping for lots of rain,” said Bernstein, who said Splash-Down and North Idaho’s Silverwood theme park are her competition for summer recreation dollars. “If it rains, I’m going to get lots of people inside.”

The county Parks Department and Valley schools offer a variety of classes for children during the summer. In response to increased public demand for more youth activities, the Parks Department has expanded its offerings.

New this summer is a summer adventure program at Liberty Lake and Park Road pool. Children will take swimming lessons, learn arts and crafts and do nature interpretation.

A pre-school day camp will be offered for the first time at Camp Caro Lodge, two blocks south of Sprague on Sargent. Three week-long sessions - open to children aged 2 to 5 - will be offered in July.

Also new in the Valley are softball clinics, to be held at Browns Park, Mountain View Middle School and Holmberg Park. A soccer academy at Riverside was so successful last year that parks officials decided to expand it to the Valley.

“We brought the mountain to Mohammed,” said Randy Johnson, recreation supervisor for the Parks Department.

In addition to traditional summer school classes, one school district is offering invention, arts and crafts and theater camps for first- through sixth-graders.

“We wanted to provide something that was exciting and enriching instead of hitting remedial efforts, which is all we offered before,” said Phyllis Betts, assistant director of Central Valley School District’s summer school program.

This is the third year of the Exploratory Camps, and Betts said the program has grown incredibly. In the first year, attendance was kind of slim, Betts said, but last year 96 children showed up on the first day of the arts and crafts camp. “We were stunned,” she said.

At $35 for a week of activity, the camps are a good deal, Betts said. “You can’t even do day care for that.”

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