WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
COMMUNITY
Pool season nears as weather heats up
Aquatic center
prepping for summer
swim season
Hermiston Family Aquatic Center
Open: June 10 to Aug. 27
Public swim: Preseason June 10-16
3:10 to 8 p.m. then regular season 1:10 to 7
p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11:10
a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Rates: $4 for children under 13 and ac-
tive military members, $5 for teenagers
and seniors, $6 for adults and $20 for fam-
ilies.
Season passes: $50 youth and seniors,
$60 adults, $150 families
Additional information: For swim les-
sons, cabana rentals and other information
visit hermistonpool.com.
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff Writer
Hot weather has people
itching to hit the pool, but
they’ll have to wait at least a
couple more weeks.
Although the weather is
ripe for swimming, lifeguards
have to finish up their school
year, pools need repainted
and water slides buffed before
municipal aquatic centers are
ready to open for the season.
“There’s a lot of cleaning
up we have to do,” Hermiston
parks and recreation director
Larry Fetter said.
Hermiston’s aquatic cen-
ter opens June 10. A long
checklist of items, from boil-
er inspections to a software
upgrade for the pool’s chem-
ical control system, have al-
ready allowed the center’s lap
swimming pool to be filled. It
took 12 hours to fill the pool
from a fire hose, but three
days to warm it up to a com-
fortable temperature.
On the multi-use pool side,
crumbling tiles have been re-
placed with a new cement lip,
but the pool still needs pow-
er-washed and repainted, and
the water slides need some
work too. Layers of dust,
which are particularly bad
this year due to construction
at Good Shepherd Medical
Center next door, have to be
scrubbed away.
EO FILE PHOTO
Pool goers enjoy lazy river current portion of the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center in June, 2015.
“Sometimes we get a year,
sometimes we get two years
out of the paint,” Fetter said.
“On the slides, calcium de-
posits form and slow it down,
so you have to buff them out,
then like with a car you wax
them and get them speed-rac-
er ready.”
He said city employee Bri-
an Fricke has done much of
the work to get the pool ready
for use.
The concessions stand also
has to be readied. Fetter said
this year the people who run
the Tiki Hut outside the spray
park will also run the pool’s
concessions stand, adding a
selection of shaved ice to the
stand’s traditional fare.
Meanwhile
Brandon
Artz, the city’s new rec-
reation director, has been
busy coordinating training
for 33 new lifeguards and
15 returning ones. Employ-
ees must go through a 25-
hour course of CPR, first
aid and rescue techniques
for unconscious and “ac-
tive” victims, including be-
ing able to dive down to the
bottom of the deep end and
pull an unconscious adult to
the surface.
“It’s a pretty intensive four
days,” Artz said.
This year most classes took
place at Blue Mountain Com-
munity College’s pool, but
next year Hermiston is look-
ing to move employee train-
ings over to Boardman’s new
pool set to open July 2, since
BMCC’s pool may not reopen
again after its summer mainte-
nance closure on June 2.
Once the four-day training
course is over, employees are
constantly being tested through
ongoing inservice training, in-
cluding test drills during the
work day where lifeguards
have to jump in and rescue
dummies thrown into the pool.
“It’s not just a one-time
training, it’s an ongoing mea-
sure of their preparedness,”
Artz said.
Some lifeguards are return-
ing from college, but the ma-
jority are high school students.
Either way, the pool can’t open
until they’re done with school,
which is why it opens on June
10 this year. There are still a
few spots left for swim lessons,
but they’re filling up fast.
Boardman Pool and Recreation Center
Open: July 2
Hours: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through
Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and noon
to 7 p.m. on Sundays
Rates: Toddlers free, ages 4-18 $4,
adults $5, seniors $4.50
Season Passes: Monthly and yearly
passes to the pool and recreation center are
available
Additional information: The pool and
recreation center will have a grand opening
celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July
1. Call Boardman parks and recreation at
541-481-7217 for more information.
Willow Creek Water Park (Heppner)
Open: June 10
Public swim: 1-8 p.m. Monday through
Saturday and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays
Rates: $2 for ages 0-4 and senior citi-
zens, $3 for ages 5-17, $4 for adults, $14
for families
Season Passes: $75 for an individual
and $140 per family
Additional information: The pool will
close on days cooler than 65 degrees or
when there are fewer than 6 swimmers.
Visit willowcreekpd.com/water-park for
more information.
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