Pool admission price to remain the same for 2021

The city pool will have new slides and other new aquatic features if and when it opens this summer but admission prices will remain.

During its April meeting, the Greencastle Park Board voted unanimously to keep admission prices stable, which means the daily admission fee for everyone age five and over will continue at $5, while youngsters age four and under are admitted free of charge. Twilight swim (5-7 p.m. only) admission will remain at $3.

Pool admission of $5 has remained that way for nine years since the Park Board increased the price from $3 in 2012, raising the entrance fee for only the third time since the city pool opened nearly 30 years ago.

What will raise for 2021, however, are season pass prices.

An individual season pass, which was $60, will now cost $85. A family pass (for up to four people) will go from $175 previously to $240 (each additional person over the four on the pass will be $50, up from $35).

The Greencastle Gate Pass, a 10-punch pass that saves the user $10, will remain at $40 for 2021.

A season pass is still a bargain for repeat customers, Park Board President Cathy Merrell noted.

“You only have to go 12 times to get your money’s worth,” she observed.

Private pool rentals will also see a price increase. Rental for 1-75 persons, which was priced at $205, will go to $275. The fee for 76-150 persons will jump from $275 to $350, while pool rental for 151 or more will be $435, up from $375.

A new corporate price for renting the pool for the whole day (noon to 7 p.m.) was listed at $2,500, while a private four-hour pool rental from 5-9 p.m. will be $700.

Meanwhile, learn-to-swim fees will go up from $45 to $55 to cover ten 40-minute classes, while water babies classes will rise from $40 to $45.

The increases in those areas, Park Director Rod Weinschenk said, will help cover increasing costs.

“We have two new water slides, a drop slide and things in the shallow end for kids,” Weinschenk said of new attractions, noting that additional expenses such as increased wages for lifeguards are making some price increases necessary.

The Park Board is proceeding as if there will be a normal pool season this year after canceling all of 2020 because of COVID-19. The 2021 season is set to begin on Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 29 and run through Sunday, Aug. 8.

Open swim is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. daily with twilight swim 5-7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the free Bob York Splash Park will open for the season in early May. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., weather permitting (minimum 70-degree air temperature).

The board also heard Weinschenk detail the pool concession stand menu, stressing that it will be ”kept simple to get them (customers) in and out.”

“For the most part, I look for everything to be prepackaged,” Weinschenk said, “with the exception of hotdogs and nachos and cheese.”

The board also agreed that facility rentals will remain the same, although there will be a $10 increase on all softball programs.

The Park Board will next meet in regular session at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 5 at the aquatic center at Robe-Ann Park.