Pool attendance, income running ahead of last year

At the halfway mark of the 2016 swim season, the Greencastle Aquatic Center is doing a whole lot better than last year.

Thanks to a hot June and a sultry start to summer, pool admissions and concessions income is running ahead of 2015, the Greencastle Board of Park Commissioners was told at its July meeting this week.

The city pool was open on 28 of 30 June days, bringing in a total admissions income of $35,170.57, or about $6,300 more than the $28,825.18 collected in June 2015.

Concessions income for June 2016 was at $11,611.26, outpacing June 2015 which brought in $8,884.16 in snack and drink sales.

Adding in the four days the pool was open during May, admission income has surpassed $48,000 for 2016, about $8,000 better than last swim season.

"And the season's only half over," Park Director Rod Weinschenk reminded the board.

Through the end of June, almost 12,000 people (11,960 to be exact) used the city pool, while another 2,407 took advantage of the free adjacent splash park facility.

June 10 saw 696 people come to the pool as the highest one-day total to date, while attendance topped 600 on four other occasions as well.

The high-water mark at the splash park came June 1 when 250 visitors made use of the water attraction.

Weinschenk noted that the pool will close when students and his lifeguards return to school. Gone are the days when the pool opened Memorial Day and closed on Labor Day.

The last scheduled day for the pool this season is Sunday, Aug. 7, Weinschenk said. School starts Aug. 8 at Greencastle.

Board member Cathy Merrell asked if the facility would be open on weekends after that.

Citing "lifeguard issues" -- meaning the lack of staff available once students return to school and get involved in other athletic pursuits that absorb their weekends -- Weinschenk said opening on the weekend is not doable either.

Meanwhile, the city pool recently staged its first swim meet since the aquatics center was built in 1993-94.

The Putnam County Swim Team Griffins hosted some 70 swimmers representing teams from Terre Haute and Crawfordsville, and the reviews were reportedly great.

Board Vice President Tim Trigg reported receiving several positive comments the day of the swim meet about the facility and the staff.

The meet was scheduled as a two-day Saturday and Sunday event but the Saturday's weather drove the competition indoors at the South Putnam High School pool. However, Sunday's weather was perfect for an outdoor meet.

In another item relative to the pool, Weinschenk responded to a question about a $6,490 charge from Stone's Auto Body that appeared on the claims docket.

The park director explained that by having Stone's prep and paint fiberglass pool grate covers, the life of the equipment has been extended.

Replacing them reportedly would have cost several times that much.

Kids at the pool often stand on those grates along the wall before jumping into the water and all the years of use finally wore off the protective coating and resulted in swimmers ending up with fiberglass residue on their arms and stomachs.

The grates have not been changed since the pool opened, Weinschenk noted.

The expenditure, which covered prep and painting 180 covers and a couple of lifeguard chairs, will "get us another five years out of them," Weinschenk said.

In other business, the Park Board:

-- Was reminded that the annual National Night Out event will be Tuesday, Aug. 2 at Robe-Ann Park.

-- Heard Weinschenk report he's received a "sizable donation" from Arthur and Ann Garceau whose daughter lives across from Big Walnut Sports Park. The donation is for at least 10 trees to be planted on the eastern edge of the sports park to serve as a wind screen. Plans are to plant some crabapple trees for spring color, some pine trees for wind screen and some deciduous trees for fall color.

-- Learned that a $500 donation was received from the family of the late Hiromichi Mashimo of Japan who often participated in the annual Mike Rokicki Memorial 5K Run/Walk while he was in Greencastle. The funds were used to purchase trophies for this year's race.

-- Heard that 36 people took advantage of the pickleball lessons offered on the new courts at Robe-Ann Park over the past weekend with 24 taking part on Saturday and another dozen on July 4.

-- Approved use of the loop trail at Big Walnut Sports Park Saturday, Sept. 10 for a 5K for Putnamville Correctional Facility employees. They were advised that Sept. 10 is the opening day of the youth soccer season, so it would be advantageous to hold the 5K run in the afternoon or evening rather than in the morning with all the soccer traffic present.

Park Board members Beva Miller, John Hennette, Trigg and Merrell were joined for the July meeting by ex-officio member Wayne Lewis and City Council park liaison Steve Fields.

The next meeting of the Greencastle Park Board will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8.