From school days to pool days
County aquatic facilities kick off swimming season
Wednesday marks the start of summer, but swimming season kicked off early in Spokane as county pools opened Friday to anyone eager to cool down.
Wendy Howard, from Gig Harbor, couldn’t pass up the chance to bring her children down to the Southside Family Aquatic Facility for a relaxing afternoon swim while in town visiting her mother-in-law.
“The kids have probably been here about three or four times,” she said. “You can feel safe about your kids being here. Even the 5-year-old, my daughter, can touch anywhere in this pool.”
Opening day coincided with the last day of school for many local children, so county aquatics spokeswoman Angela Simmons, who oversees the Liberty Lake, Northside and Southside aquatic centers, expected a solid turnout.
“For opening day, we’ll get a few hundred through the doors just at this place,” Simmons said, referring to Southside.
That facility, on East 61st Avenue, tends to be the busiest of the county pools. On a day with good swimming weather – temperatures in the low to mid-80s – 700 to 800 people might take a dip there, she said.
When the temperature is below 80 degrees, as it was Friday, the county pools will let the third person in every party enter for free this summer.
“That’s a big thing for us this next week when we wait for the weather to warm up a little bit more,” Simmons said. “When it’s 78 out, the pool’s pretty busy, but it’s not busy enough.”
Not much has changed at the county pools from last year to this season. They will be open for general admission from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and most entrance fee rates will stay as they were. Entry is free for children 2 and younger, $3 for children 3-5, and $4 for those 6 and older.
But starting this year, anyone 60 or older can get in for a discounted price of $3, and every Friday from 6 p.m. to dusk there will be a family swim event open to anyone.
The county is also working to get more donations for its “Make a Splash” free passes for low-income children.
“Right now, we only have four left,” Simmons said. “We started out with about 300.”
Spokane Valley pools open today and city pools open Monday.