Washington Park swimming pool has successful summer
It was quite a successful summer at the pool at Washington Park.
DeAnna Martin, park director, told council at its meeting Monday that the pool drew about 11,500 people this year. That’s almost double the number of people from two years ago and is an increase from the nearly 8,000 from 2023.
“We’re growing each year,” she said. “We really have turned around what that pool is capable of doing with swim teams, and we’re doing swim lessons. We now have water aerobics. We’re trying to utilize that and make that more than just a pool.”
Martin added memberships also increased this year.
Also successful was the second Art(s) in the Park event, held this past Saturday at Washington Park.
Art(s) in the Park included stage performances, vendors, hands-on activities, food trucks, a tie-dye station and an on-site painting competition.
“We doubled the amount of children that came through,” Martin said, stating that 186 children were fed at the event. “We probably saw about 500 folks come through. We are feeling very good about it. The kids had a lot of hands-on experiences and walked away with a lot of art.”
Next up is Dark in the Park, which has been moved up a week to Oct. 18 for the Light Scare and Oct. 19 for the Full Scare, beginning at 6:45 p.m. each night.
Council will have its voting meeting Thursday. On the list of bills to be approved is a $1,667 payment to Integra Realty Resources in Pittsburgh.
The Washington Parking Authority Sept. 4 approved having the Pittsburgh firm conduct an independent appraisal of the Crossroads Parking Garage, which the county wishes to purchase, at a cost of $5,001. The cost is to be split between the city, the Washington School District and the parking authority.
Finally, Fern Sibert told council that bottle cap collection has been going much better than expected. The bottle caps are then converted into eco-friendly items such as picnic tables and park benches.
“It’s been a little more overwhelming than I ever dreamed it would be,” said Sibert, the director of Clean and Tidy our County, Inc. “I thought it was going to take two years to get (enough for) 25 benches for the park and five picnic tables. We are at 75 benches right now and five picnic tables.”
Sibert said some of the benches went to Peters Township, West Finley Township and other locations.
She said no bottle caps will be taken after Nov. 1.