A lifeguard stands poolside at Resch Aquatic Center in Green Bay. (PHOTO/WTAQ News)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — As the school year approaches and summer starts to wind down, this is the last week most public pools in our area are open. Despite some communities scrambling to find staff earlier this year, pools were able to welcome swimmers all summer long.
Closed earlier this week, Resch Aquatic Center was back open on Thursday while the pool at Joannes Park is closed.
It’s the late summer balancing act Green Bay has to deal with every year– as a lot of its young adult staff heads back to college or is involved with high school sports and other extracurricular activities.
“We’ve had a lot of staffing challenges as we approach August and our end of summer date, so we’ve had to make some changes to our schedule to accommodate the staff that we do have,” said Ann Moeller, Green Bay’s recreation supervisor.
Despite the late summer schedule changes, which includes closing the Green Bay pools an hour early, city officials say it’s still been a great season for swimmers.
Moeller says, “All three facilities were open really for the first time since 2018 because Colburn Pool was down for renovations for a couple of those years, we had the pandemic, and then our staffing concerns most recently. So, this was the first summer all three of our pools have been open and it’s been wonderful.”
While the Green Bay pools didn’t break any records for attendance, they were steady all season long. “What we really noticed this year is that our crowds were a little bit more spread out, which made for a more enjoyable experience for those coming to our facilities. It was never overly crowded. It was just a really nice relaxed atmosphere,” added Moeller.
Open seven days a week, for the rest of this month and weekends in September, it’s too early to tell what attendance was at Bay Beach Amusement Park this season, but park officials say crowds have been good – and staffing levels have been even better.
According to Jason Arnoldi, park manager, “The majority of rides have been open for the entire year with the exception of the two new rides that we’re installing right now. We’re hoping we might even see those before the end of the summer.”
And supervisors like Jason Arnoldi and Ann Moeller are hopefully to see a lot of their staff again next summer too. Moeller adding, “I feel we are starting to dig out of that hole that we’ve had, since mostly 2020. The staff are starting to come back, return, stay. The pay increases that we’ve had for staff have really helped and that will help retain our current staff as well.”
With warm weather expected over the weekend, the pools will still be open. In Green Bay, Joannes and Colburn pools will be open through Sunday, August 20. Resch Aquatic will wrap up it season on Thursday, August 24.
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