Humid summer days continued into Monday as families beat the heat at Ron Wallisa Memorial Pool at Wolfe Park. Older kids splashed around in the deeper end, while toddlers sought relief beneath the fountain on the shallow side.
Tom Stepkoski of Monroe sat on a towel with his daughter, Mackenzie, 4-and-a-half.
"This is our first time here this year," he said. "This is a good day to come. I've been working too hard and she's been suffering in the air conditioning."
The pool at Wolfe Park is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Evan Kollmann, an admission monitor, said, "It's been a lot busier with the hot weather and now that the schools are out."
The pool employs four lifeguards at a time and a fifth when it's more crowded, according to Kollmann.
Last summer, the pool was closed many times due to cloudy water and toddlers having accidents. But Kollmann said the water clarity issue has been resolved.
Steve Goldstein, who wrote a blog about the pool for Monroe Patch, agreed that things have been better this season.
"The lifeguards are working a lot harder this year and the pool is definitely cleaner," Goldstein said. "We've had less issues than last year."
However, he said he knows of about four temporary closings this year after toddlers had accidents in the water.
"We still have to move our stuff," Goldstein said. "It gets a lot of people angry. Why not set up a locking system, where you can pay to lock your chair and leave it here — at your own risk?"
Goldstein said he brought up the idea to other pool members, who were all agreeable to paying a fee for something like that.
Stepkoski calls Wolfe Park the best thing since he moved here, but he added that he would like to see more seating around the pool.
Goldstein said, "The concession stand is better this year. They moved a snack shop right in here. It's a lot nicer."
Both he and Goldstein like Parks & Rec. Dir. Frank Cooper's plan to eventually add a splash park for small children. The piping for the pool area is designed to accommodate that.
Friends, Kelly Scorza of Monroe and Michelle Garrity of Newtown, both mothers of three, came to the pool together with their children.
"This is perfect," Scorza said of the pool giving them relief from the humidity. "We try to come a few times a week. It's like a home away from home."
Garrity said, "We've probably been coming here for the last seven years."
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