Fallon Park Pool prepares for opening day

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Families in Roanoke can circle June 2 on their calendars, as it’s opening day for the Fallon Park Pool.

“On the weekends especially, we usually at least hit about 200 people coming in,” said Morgan Richter, head coach of the Virginia Gator Swim Team.

The Virginia Gators have handled day to day operations at Fallon Park Pool for the last five summers.

“The sense of like, community that comes from it and the atmosphere that develops is something that I think is very rewarding.”

This summer, it will be the only operating public pool in the city as Roanoke Parks and Recreation works to build a brand new pool at Washington Park in 2024. As the pool gate prepares to open, a vital part of operations are lifeguards.

“We have enough lifeguards, but it’s one of those things once again, it would be with the rush of people potentially coming from Washington, we want to make sure that we never have to close down or keep people out.”

Though the Virginia Gators are in good-shape with guards this summer, they are working on ways to bring more in.

“We’re putting on a free lifeguard class next weekend for anyone who wants to work here, the second, third and fourth of June to ensure that we just have enough staff for the whole summer because we expect a lot bigger rush going into it.”

Richter shared it’s not much of a worry that they will hit their 300 person capacity, leading to people having to wait to get in.

“That only happened a couple of times last summer and everyone was very understanding of it.”

Though there are fees to get in for anyone over four-years-old, Richter said they are open to exploring something similar to Washington Park Pool’s free swim on Monday’s.

“We don’t currently have that. But that is something we definitely would be interested in looking into and definitely partnering with the city to be able to do that.”

The current fees for the pool are $2 per person for kids five to 15-years-old and $3 per person for anyone 16-years-old or older. The pool will be open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Lifeguard pay is $15 an hour and the free certification classes will be June 2: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., June 3: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and June 4 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., anyone interested can email vagatorswim@gmail.com for more information. Anyone interested in pool parties can email fallonpoolparties@gmail.com for more information.

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