SCRANTON, Pa. — In May, the pool at Weston Park was green and needed some repairs. There was little hope it would open at all this season. But on this hot Monday afternoon, the pool was crystal clear with kids splashing and swimming around.
Lindsay Cocker is a camp counselor with The Arc of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which runs its camp at the park. She was happy the kids had a different activity on this hot summer day.
"The kids really enjoy it, and it's something they really look forward to, so we're here from like 9 to 3, and counting down the minutes to one o'clock to go in the pool is everything," Cocker said.
It wasn't just kids at summer camp cooling off at the pool. Harlee Straud brought her daughter Gracie who couldn't wait to jump in and cool down.
"I'm pretty happy there's just a pool because I have a little girl that would be very disappointed if it wasn't, so we drove a lot to get here," Straud said.
Straud says they usually visit the pool at Weston Field but saw the sign directing people to Weston Park's pool instead. Weston Field's pool will be closed on Mondays, but that schedule is subject to change based on continuing repairs.
"I didn't know this one existed, so this is like in my backyard. And we normally go to the other one, which is really nice too, but this is in a good location."
There is also hope for the future of the pool at Connell Park in the city's south side. Repairs are underway, and city officials hope to have it up and running next week. Until then, it remains closed.
City officials say the ages of the pools make it tough to predict when problems arise and how long it will take to fix the issues.
People who use the city pools hope to have more places to cool off.
"We used to go off grounds to different places every week for this summer camp. We're only going to one place this year. So that's kind of a little bit disheartening, but still, you know, super happy when we see people from the community here, and clearly it brings joy to a lot of lives," Cocker said.
Scranton's Parks and Rec director says the hope is to make much-needed improvements in the future, so delays for repairs aren't as frequent.
To find out which pools are open, you can visit the Scranton Parks and Rec Facebook page here.
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