Holiday marks end of first aquatic center season

Glenwood’s first outdoor swimming season in more than a decade officially came to a close on Labor Day.
    After several days of fall-like weather, summer temperatures returned Monday just in time to give swimmers a hot day to put an exclamation mark on the inaugural eight-week season at the Glenwood Aquatic Center.
    The $5 million facility, located adjacent to Glenwood Community High School, has been a popular destination for youngsters and families since opening July 8.
    “I think the season went pretty smooth. I don’t think there were many hiccups,” Mills County YMCA Aquatic Director Alexis Unger said. “The biggest challenge has been the seating, particularly not having the sod available.”
    Lounge chairs were at a premium, Unger said, in part because areas with newly-placed sod on the east and south ends of the facility were off limits to patrons to sunbathe or place personal belongings. The facility has no storage areas or lockers.
    “We’ve tried to keep the picnic area cleared,” Unger added.
    Specific numbers were not available, but Unger estimates 250-300 people came to the aquatic center on a daily basis.
    “It’s been about as expected,” she said.
    Unger said 203 family memberships and 31 individual season passes were sold for the abbreviated summer swimming season.
    The facility has been rented our for several private functions over the past eight weeks, including birthday parties and a swim event for the high school football team.
     The aquatic center is owned by the city of Glenwood, but managed by the YMCA. Unger said daily staffing was adjusted as the season progressed.
    “A lot of the lifeguards are younger and newer so I didn’t want to give them too much responsibility and too large of an area to cover right away,” Unger said. “We scaled back (number of lifeguards) as the season went on.”
    The most popular features at the aquatic center, Unger said, were the diving boards, volleyball nets, basketball hoops, lily pad walk and children’s play area.
    Unger said the concession stand was heavily utilized. Heading into the final weekend of the season, inventory at the concession stand was down to a handful of candies and several dozen hot dogs.