June 14, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
The Smithville Municipal Swimming Pool is expected to open Thursday, June 18.
Pool hours will be from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 1 until 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission remains at $2.00 per person.
Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, admission to the pool will be limited to no more than 50 people at a time. Pool patrons and employees must also have their temperatures checked and answer health related questions before they enter the gate.
“Normally we could have up to 200 swimmers in our pool but this year we can have no more than 50 inside the gate. We will check everyone’s temperature. We will ask questions and get their names. It will be the same for our employees. We will take their temperatures too. If anyone’s temperature exceeds 100.4 degrees we can’t let them in the gate,” said Pool Manager Jeania Cawthorn.
The pool will have no lounge chairs or picnic tables available this summer and the water slides will be closed but swimmers may use the diving boards.
Designated pool use times will be set aside for persons with disabilities.
“This year we are going to do something different for people with disabilities. We will open the pool from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. for them. That way its not noisy and chaotic for them,” said Cawthorn.
Patrons may also take advantage of other offerings including swimming lessons, water aerobics, and pool parties.
“We will do water aerobics on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. and swimming lessons will begin in July for those ages 3 and older. If children are afraid of the water and need assistance we will ask a parent to get in the pool with them because we can’t touch them this year. Normally we would hold them and the boards and noodles but this year we are not going to touch them (due to COVID-19). We will also be doing pool parties at night (2 hours for $200),” Cawthorn said.
The pool normally opens on the Memorial Day weekend but that had to be delayed this year due to COVID-19 and because of needed repairs to the pool and the lack of available lifeguards.
The pool has now been patched up and the needed chemicals added. Cawthorn also got a good response after issuing the latest plea for more lifeguards. She now has 19 lifeguards who have become certified and are ready to go to work.
The pool will stay open until school reopens.
“We will go by the school schedule. Usually we will stay open one week past the school reopening because all of our lifeguards go back to school too,” said Cawthorn.
The pool is not restricted to only local people as is the case in other counties.
“Everybody is welcome. We will take the first 50 people and then we shut the gate,” Cawthorn concluded.
Plans are to have a back to school bash at the end of summer in which children will be offered free admission.