LAKEWOOD —Lakewood residents will experience some new things at Morse Park and Glennon Heights swimming pools this summer, including family fun nights and the occasional appearance of an inflatable obstacle course.
Family fun nights will happen about a half-dozen times at each pool through the summer, and include closing times extended until 8 p.m., along with pool games to allow families with parents working late to enjoy the facilities, said city recreation manager Peggy Boccard.
“We also pushed the fences back at Glennon Heights to provide more grass area for people to sit and enjoy themselves,” Boccard said. “There will also be grills to barbecue on and we encourage families to pack a picnic dinner on the after-hours days.”
Glennon Heights has kept in place a pilot program started late last summer that extended normal closing time from 5-7 p.m.
“We actually did a survey to see what residents wanted out of their neighborhood pools and Glennon Heights said the pool was closing too early,” said Allison Scheck, marketing and community relations manager for Lakewood. “So we did work on extending hours at that pool in particular … it’s sort of a throwback to the old days when pools were built in the middle of neighborhoods.”
Long-time Glennon Heights resident Jim Halderman said the neighborhood has always been filled with families, and there’s been years of discussions about getting the pool hours extended.
“Between school opening and closing it’s always been quite a short season to begin with,” Halderman said. “It’s great to see that finally happening … the whole park gets quite a bit of activity, so hopefully they can eventually expand the park and playground area next.”
One of those spray parks, Surfside at 5330 W. 9th Ave. , will begin a new program renting out the picnic shelter during the day. The site will keep in place a program allowing families to rent the entire spray park after hours.
Boccard said visits to the city’s four outdoor pools have increased year after year, topping 46,850 users in 2014.
Those numbers include Ryan and Tracey Foreman and their 4-year-old son, Devin. The couple moved next to Morse Park 10 years ago and shortly after Devin’s first birthday, signed him up for swim lessons at the neighborhood pool.
Ryan Foreman said that three years later, the family visits the swimming pool three to four times a week during the summer.
“The staff has always been incredible and really personable,” Foreman said. “Last time we walked through the park, Devin kept talking about how he couldn’t wait for swim lessons to begin.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abriggs
Family fun pass
What: Allows unlimited general admission access to all outdoor pools and spray parks and unlimited admission to all four recreation centers May 28-Sept. 7.
Cost: $79 for youth/student/senior and $99 for adults
Where: Passes available in person at any rec center or pool
