Washington pool opens despite overcast weather

Sixty degrees and cloudy was not ideal weather for opening day of the Washington Steele Family Aquatic Center on Tuesday, May 28, but that could not stop nearly 30 eager kids from jumping in anyway.

Manager Brock Fricke said the numbers were a little low for opening day but with the weather in the forecast, he was not surprised.

'For opening day it's a little low, but the weather has been like this for weeks now. It kind of gets people in a bad mood, but hopefully they're having fun out there,” he said.

This is Fricke's third year with the pool and first as manager. He said coming to work every day is something he looks forward to because of the people he gets to spend time with.

'If you go to work every day and enjoy what you do, you don't work a day in your life. I like hanging out with everyone because it's fun and a lot of people come in and out of this pool and a lot is always going on,” he said.

With unpleasant weather in the forecast for the remainder of the week, Fricke said staff will try to keep the pool open as long as possible, but they do follow storm procedures.

'We'll close the pool if it's a severe thunderstorm warning, typically toward the end of the day, but usually we try to wait,” he said. 'We follow the thunder and lighting protocol of waiting 30 minutes every time we hear thunder and clear the pool when that happens.”

Fricke said he hopes to see lots of families at the pool this summer because it's a safe, fun environment right in town for people to enjoy.

'We have the attractions that a lot of other pools don't have,” he said. 'Diving board, two slides, it's a lot of fun.”

The Washington Steele Family Aquatic Center will host open swim from 4-7 p.m. May 28-June 7. From June 8-Aug. 24, open swim will be from 1-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sundays.