The Memorial Day weekend is expected to bring sun and temperatures in the upper 80s to DeKalb County, just as local park districts open their pools and splash pads to the public.
Dan Gibble, executive director for the Sycamore Park District, said pool pass sales have increased for the park district this summer. He said there have been more than 400 passes bought, which is an increase from the more than 300 bought at the same time last year.
Gibble said he thought the park district’s new splash pad had driven demand. The splash pad, near the district’s new community center at 480 Airport Road, will open Saturday. Along with the pool’s June 2 opening for its 34th season, Gibble said he’s hoping for more attendance than usual for the splash pad’s Memorial Day weekend debut because of the weather forecast.
“With the 90-degree weather, we’re looking forward to having people out here,” Gibble said.
The Sycamore splash pad is one of several community aquatics centers in DeKalb County opening this weekend, including Hopkins Park Pool in DeKalb and Chamberlain Park Pool in Genoa. Adult resident passes for DeKalb are $64 for one person. Individual adult residential passes for Sycamore are $89, and passes for one adult in Genoa are $73.
The splash pad, which is part of the Sycamore Park District’s Action 2020 initiative, cost about $450,000 and follows the completion of the new community center, which also was part of the initiative.
Next on the list is a dog park with an anticipated completion date of spring 2019, along with a sled hill to be completed in fall 2019, according to a Sycamore parks news release.
Gibble said the Sycamore Community Pool usually serves about 25,000 patrons each summer. He said the number has been steady in the past several years.
“It hasn’t grown greatly, but it hasn’t shrunk, either,” Gibble said.
Amy Doll, executive director for the DeKalb Park District, said attendance at Hopkins Park Pool ranges between 30,000 and 35,000 a season. She said pool attendance is off its peak of more than 43,000 in 2012.
Doll said a number of factors could affect attendance numbers in general, such as weather, school schedules and, more recently, new facilities opening in the region.
“There are just a lot of choices for families in the summer,” Doll said.
Doll said the park district had sold about 490 pool passes as of Thursday; about the same time last year, the park district had sold 575.
Sandi Rease, pool manager for the Genoa Township Park District, said the Chamberlain Park Pool in Genoa has sold 206 passes so far. She said that’s a huge number for the district and attributes the hike to early sales; 140 passes were bought in April 2017 and 182 were bought by the same time this year.
“We’re not DeKalb, we’re not Sycamore, but we’re a smaller community,” Rease said. “So that’s an exciting number for me.”
Rease said the Genoa pool will be open for more than 50 seasons this year. She said it underwent a huge renovation in 1996 to replace the pumps, build locker rooms and a concession stand and has been well-maintained throughout the years.
As long as pool parts are running as they should and it continues to be financially feasible to replace those parts, Rease said, she does not foresee any plans to close or replace the district’s pool.
DeKalb and Sycamore parks officials discussed a few years ago opening a joint pool primarily for the two communities, but there wasn’t a lot of support from residents of the two cities who were surveyed, Doll said. She said it’s a matter of determining the feasibility of that kind of plan, which could take years to complete.
“If we were to replace it, that means those are dollars that we can’t spend in other places,” Doll said. “So we’d need to make some decisions.”
Doll said the northern Illinois climate isn’t easy on a pool and that there are a lot of communities that replace their pools after more than 40 seasons. Despite its 44 years, she said, DeKalb’s pool amenities are in good condition.
Gibble said the most spent on pool updates to date was about $200,000 last year, when renovations were made to adhere to to Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.
With the average life expectancy of a community pool being about 25 years, Gibble said, the question to ask when considering rehabbing the pool, closing it or rebuilding another one is whether it’s worth the investment.
“We’re not at that crossroads yet, but we’re a lot closer than we were 34 years ago,” Gibble said.
Pool opening dates and hours
DeKalb Park District
• Hopkins Pool, 1403 Sycamore Road
Opens Saturday
Sunday to Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sycamore Park District
• Community Pool, 940 E. State St.
Opens June 2
Monday to Friday: Noon to 5 p.m.;
6 to 8 p.m.
Weekends: Noon to 5 p.m.
• Splash Fountain, 480 S. Airport Road
Open Saturday through Aug. 31
Monday to Friday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Genoa Township Park District
• Chamberlain Pool, 400 E. Second St.
Open Saturday
Weekdays: Noon to 5 p.m.;
7 to 9 p.m.
Saturday: Noon to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 1 to 6 p.m.