WISCONSIN (NBC 26) — Grab your sunscreen, swim suit, flip flops and hats as it’s almost time to head down to your area community pool.
However, with the Covid-19 pandemic still in sight, families might be wondering what pool season will look like this summer, as last year many cities placed restrictions on their facilities.
The City of De Pere says this year it will be opening its pools similar to a normal year.
“We’re opening up basically as a normal pool would,” said John McDonald, City of De Pere Recreation Supervisor.
McDonald shares the changes the city will be implementing include the number of people allowed.
“We are operating at about a 50 percent max capacity of the patron load. As of right now at Legion, it’s 215 people allowed and at VFW it will be 142 people allowed in the pool at one time until restrictions lift a little bit more,” McDonald said.
He also said when it comes to their snack bar, they will only offer pre-packaged concessions items.
“We won’t be doing the hot food, pizzas, or anything like that. As of right now with Covid, we want to make sure that we abide by all health code guidelines with operations and that’s just where we’re at,” McDonald said.
He shares that last summer things were even more restricted.
“Patrons who wanted to use the pool had to rent it. We offered 45-minute time blocks where you could have an open swim. We were basically a mini rental. We did lap swimming at certain times and we did swim lessons at certain times,” McDonald said.
Last summer only their Legion pool was open as their VFW Aquatic center was under construction.
De Pere’s two community pools open Saturday, June 12.
For more information on pricing and summer passes, click here.
As for the City of Green Bay, it has three community pools expecting to also open Saturday, June 12.
"We're really excited to be back open and fairly close to normal," said Ann Moeller, City of Green Bay Recreation Supervisor.
This summer all three of the Green Bay’s pools will be opening with a reduced capacity limit.
Officials say new this year they’ll also be implementing two 15-minute breaks each day where they’ll require the public to clear the pool for that time.
“To give our staff a chance to do some of that more in depth sanitizing and if we are at capacity on those days that will be a good time for people to leave and we can bring new people in,” Moeller said.
The websitealso notes that all information is subject to change in response to local health department recommendations in the wake of Covid-19. To learn more about pricing and season passes, click here.
For the city of Appleton, the city says it is opening its pool season on June 4. The city said it will be sanitizing frequently and operating class sizes at a capacity limit.
As they follow guidelines from the local health department as well, the city said it will be monitoring things if it needs to change.
For more information on pricing and season passes for the city of Appleton, click here.
