Be cool; Hit the pool

Midlands swimming pools and water parks have been busier this summer than last, and the weekend heat had people diving into the water in droves.

In Omaha, the city's new Zorinsky Aquatic Center has been a big draw. Through Saturday, it had attracted 20,972 people, said Kim Harman, City of Omaha recreation manager. Zorinsky has reached its 368-person capacity numerous times since its June 5 opening.

Overall, attendance at City of Omaha pools was 150,221 through Saturday, up from the 135,890 for the same period of 2009, Harman said. The busiest week so far — big surprise — was last week, when the sun was blazing and the sky was blue.

That seems to be a common story at area pools and water parks.

When the sun set on a scorcher of a Saturday, 37,748 swimmers and splashers had waded into Papillion's Papio Bay Aquatic Center. That compares with 33,022 through the same date, July 17, last year.

“We can have 1,500 people safely in Papio Bay,” Lori Hansen, recreation director for the City of Papillion, said Monday. “Our largest number this summer has been 1,277. We've had right around that 1,200 mark several times. We've had some hot days in the last three weeks and some really good crowds during that time.”

Nearly 7,000 people hit the Mahoney Family Aquatic Center at Mahoney State Park over the weekend.

“The Family Aquatic Center opened in 2002,” and this past weekend was “probably the biggest three days that we've had,” said Brian Schmidt, park superintendent at Mahoney, which is between Lincoln and Omaha.

Friday's attendance of 2,946 came within splashing distance of the one-day record of 3,001.

Year-to-date, attendance at the Mahoney water park is up 46 percent over 2009, Schmidt said. “Usually Memorial Day weekend's not a big swimming weekend, but we started out with big crowds on Memorial Day weekend, and it just continued.”

Although June 2010 was rainy, most of the storms hit in the morning or late evening. So pool operators rarely had to close for entire days.

“We had to close early a couple times,” Hansen said. “It's affected our swimming lessons a little. ... But I think we've only had to close down for one full day and a couple half-days.”

Despite the rains, June 2010 was much warmer than June 2009, she said. And recent heat waves have drawn plenty of people.

In Council Bluffs, Geoff Hubbard, the city's recreation superintendent, said attendance was up during the heat wave compared with previous weeks but has been comparable to most Julys.

Hubbard said the pool doesn't always fill when the thermometer rises.

“Sometimes when it gets too hot it doesn't even help our attendance because people don't want to get out of the air conditioning,” he said.

Hubbard said stormy June weather shut down operations for one full day and closed them around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. two other days.

Compared with last year, attendance is up, Hubbard said. “But last July we had a very bad July — about 25 days of rain and cold. ... Our attendance was way down. … This July, compared to the last five Julys, we're still about average.”

In Missouri Valley, Iowa, pool attendance through July 15 was 8,385 — only 33 more than the same period in 2009.

“It surprised me how close they (the attendance numbers) are because everyone thought it looked like more people in the pool this year,” said Rita Miller, city clerk/administrator.

In Lincoln, Holly Lewis, assistant recreation manager for Lincoln Parks and Recreation, said pool attendance this summer has floated right around the average for the past nine years.

“We usually average 120,000 to 125,000 visits a summer,” she said. “This year we're at 121,000. The predicted hot weather in the coming days will give us a boost.”

In Grand Island, Neb., Todd McCoy, recreation supervisor for Grand Island Parks and Recreation, said, “Last year wasn't great because of all the cool weather. This year is pretty close, maybe a little over last year — both in attendance and revenue.”

In Columbus, Neb., Brook Tomka, aquatics manager, said the outdoor water park hit a record — 1,351 people — on July 9.

Attendance has exceeded 1,000 on seven days this summer, and Tomka expects to see that in the next week, too. She said that through June, the park has had 6,000 more visitors than last year.

Other than the opening year in 2006, Tomka said, “this is by far our best year attendance-wise.”

World-Herald staff writers Carol Bicak and Zack Colman contributed to this report.

Contact the writer:

444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com

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