The Vanderhoof Aquatic Centre continues to be packed to the gills following its grand opening last month.
According to the YMCA of Northern BC over 2,000 people have visited the pool in the first two weeks of operation.
Facility Manager, Heather Crozier tells My PG Now it’s not just the locals who are coming out and getting behind this brand new facility.
“It’s really been quite fabulous, there have been many people from the community and lots from our surrounding communities that have visited the pool and a lot of repeat visitors so a lot of people are lining up to buy memberships and we’re seeing the same faces every day, which is fantastic.”
She adds there is a sense of both relief and accomplishment from residents and staff on the state-of-the-art facility being open.
“Everyone is so thrilled that we have a pool, a lot of people are still kind of in awe that we actually have a pool because they have been waiting for it for 20 to 30 years, so I would say the overall response that I am getting is all positivity.”
Because of the instant success, Crozier admits more lifeguards are needed to keep the operation running smooth.
“I have eight right now, six of which are in high school and next Friday we are starting our next round of training for lifeguards so I’m hoping to get as many as I can out of it so, ideally, I would like to have between 20 and 25 lifeguards with a good mixture of adults and students.”
The new pool has become the new weekend hot spot with the visitor numbers going through the roof.
“Saturday’s and Sunday’s are extremely busy, that’s great, that’s what we want and the last two weekends the numbers have been great as they have grown each time. The first weekend we were open they were pretty high and pretty steady and then last weekend they grew from that so I am anticipating to have even more visitors come to the pool during the long weekend.”
Once more lifeguards come in, she explained, the facility could become fully functional at all times. The climbing wall needs its own lifeguard and the lazy river needs a dedicated lifeguard too.