ABOVE: The Fairmont Aquatic Park opens today to the public. Students at Fairmont Elementary School were able to get in and enjoy the pool a day early on Thursday.

FAIRMONT– A sure sign of summer is the opening of a local swimming pool. The Fairmont Aquatic Park opens to the public for its 23rd season of operation today at noon.

Park manager Betsy Steuber said they’ve been preparing the park to open since the beginning of May. She said the pools were drained, scrubbed and re-filled in preparation of opening for a new season.

While there aren’t any new attractions this year, Steuber said there have been repairs made to get leaks taken care of and that some fixes made in the splash area will allow more play features to operate.

This season the park has restructured internally, though. Steuber said they’ve condensed their management team and added a seasonal pool manger, Amanda Heinze. Heinze has been with the Aquatic Park for about eight years.

“We can hopefully streamline things a little better this way,” Steuber said.

The cost for season passes and admission hadn’t changed in several years so to keep it more in line with the current environment and economic conditions as well as pool facilities of a similar size, prices have raised slightly.

The cost of a single admission is $7. A single season pass is $90 for a student or adult and for a family of up to five its $190 and $25 for each additional person.

The park also offers a variety of organized recreational activities. For fitness classes there is water aerobics, lap swim and deep water walking.

Swimming lessons are offered at different dates and times and tiny tot swim is set aside in the morning for young swimmers and a guardian.

“That’s been really nice because we just have the kiddie pool open. We want to make it a fun experience for our youngest swimmers so they’re comfortable in and around the water. It’s popular,” Steuber said.

The Aquatic Park has allowed some groups to come in and utilize the space for events. On June 9 EMPOWER is hosting a free swim for all Martin County students grades 7 to 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. Steuber said last year it was later in the year but this year it’s earlier to reach more students. There will be pizza, prizes and music.

In the past, Steuber said they’ve had many large out-of-town groups come on busses to the pool. She said she hasn’t received as many reservations as she has in the past and wondered if the rising cost of gas has anything to do with that.

“It’s a double edged sword. It’s nice to always bring out-of-town people to our community and showcase our community and out beautiful facility,” Steuber said.

On the other hand, she said if more people stay in town, the park may see better local attendance as people utilize what’s here.

“Utilize the library and the parks. We have plenty of things to do here,” Steuber said.

And if anyone is interested in becoming a lifeguard, it’s not too late to seek out training and get a job at The Aquatic Park. Steuber said they’re always in need of lifeguards.

“Even if I had 150 lifeguards, I’d still hire more. There’s always someone who can’t work whether they’re sick or something else comes up,” she explained.

She said they’ve been fortunate that a lot of the staff members there are “long-haulers,” but she said every few years they’ll lose some as long-time employees move on to post-graduate employment.

The Aquatic Park is offering a training the first weekend they’re open but Steuber said it’s already full. There will be another training in mid-July at the Aquatic Park. Steuber said the Blue Earth pool is offering some upcoming lifeguard trainings as well.

For more information on The Aquatic Park, visit the website at fairmont.org. The page is located under the Visitors tab.