Johnson County pools ready for opening day

Summer is almost here and that means it’s almost time for pool season.

Pools around Johnson County are getting ready to open as the school year comes to a close. The Franklin Family Aquatic Center will open Saturday, while Freedom Springs Aquatics Park in Greenwood will open May 25 and Edinburgh Aquatic Center will open the following day.

Franklin Family Aquatic Center

Franklin Family Aquatic Center opens Saturday and will stay open until Sept. 2. From May 18 to Aug. 5, the pool is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Later in the season from Aug. 10 to Sept. 1, the pool is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The pool will have normal hours on Labor Day.

“We always try to open up a little bit earlier than most other pools,” said Alfonso Andolz, aquatics director. It is his first year opening the pool after starting his position mid-season last year in July.

The aquatic center has an Olympic-sized pool with a diving well, water slide, heated zero-depth pool with a play structure that includes 16 interactive play features, water basketball, concession stand and sun decks, according to a brochure.

“(A lot of our preparation) is (to) make sure it’s safe and it looks nice and things look nice,” Andolz said. “This year, from what I’ve been told, we didn’t need to do as much as other years in regards to the aesthetics in particular.”

There are daily admission prices for infant, youth, adult, senior, military, group and twilight atttendees. The 10-visit Splash Cards are currently on sale for $50 and summer pool passes for access opening day until Sept. 2 are $75 per person. Attendees who have a summer pool pass can enter the facility 15 minutes prior to opening at 10:45 a.m.

Free Family Swims are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays on May 30, June 6, June 13, June 20, June 27, July 11, July 18, July 25 and Aug. 1. There will also be scheduled movie nights on two of those dates.

This year, attendees can purchase family pool passes online with a new system the Franklin Family Aquatic Center started using in January.

“We’re accommodating, we try to have a safe place for families to come have fun.” Andolz said, “but we always do safety first so we can avoid any accidents and after that, it’s just trying to have a nice, safe place for families to come and enjoy.”

Buy photos from this gallery

Freedom Springs Aquatics Park

Freedom Springs Aquatics Park will open May 25 and close Sept. 2. It is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Beginning Aug. 5, the pool is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

For holidays, the park is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Memorial Day and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 4th and Labor Day.

Freedom Springs has three pools — a leisure pool, a competition/lap pool and a lazy river. It also features slides, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, a lily pad crossing and splash/play area for infants and toddlers, according to its website.

Rob Taggart, director of parks and recreation for Greenwood, said there are two full-time aquatics staff, approximately 80 lifeguards and approximately 25 to 30 admissions staff on a rotating schedule.

“It’s a lot of moving pieces, it’s a very big operation,” Taggart said. “When May 25 comes around, no one is any the wiser because the place looks great. It’s spectacular, the water is crystal-blue clear and that’s the way it should be. The public should be able to go there, be able to enjoy it and they don’t really realize all the hard work it takes to get there.”

Typically, Taggart said the pool has hovered around 120,000 visitors during the season for the last three to five years.

There are several programs for attendees at the pool. The park offers group swim lessons, private swim lessons, parent-child swim lessons, junior lifeguarding, water aerobics, Latin dancing, aqua Zumba, lap swimming, aqua walk and scuba. There are also special events like adult nights, family fun nights and Puppy POOLooza for four-legged friends.

Taggart said this year has been a little different because the parks and recreation department is onboarding a sports park for fall 2024 and it’s been navigating Greenwood’s growth.

“It’s all about managing and operating the growth that we’ve experienced over the past 15 years … that’s been a new experience. I won’t even say it’s a challenge because we’re handling it very well …,” he said.

The park offers day passes for adults, children, seniors, infants and military or veterans, and season passes. Attendees can also purchase a Splash Card for 10 days at the pool for $70.

Edinburgh Aquatic Center

Edinburgh Aquatic Center will open May 26 and close July 28. Adult swim will be 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday and Friday. Public swim will be from noon to 6 p.m. Free family swim is offered from 5 to 6 p.m. every day of the week.

The center offers family passes and individual passes. There are different general admission prices for town residents, out-of-town attendees for both children and adults. There are also special rates for seniors and military. Children ages 3 or younger get in free.

Eric Whitlock, aquatics manager for the Edinburgh Aquatic Center, said this year’s pool season will be similar to last year.

“We will have our July 4th Bash again this year where it’s a whole day’s worth (of events) in the town of Edinburgh,” Whitlock said. “We’ll have Summer Splash at the pool where people can come to the pool. We’ll have DJ music there that’s DJ’d by the lifeguards and games and prizes. Then, they go from the pool to the Firecracker Festival (in) downtown Edinburgh and watch the fireworks and there’s activities downtown.”

He said the pool used to have one Summer Splash event in June and one in July but they’ve started just doing one event on July 4th in recent years.

Whitlock said the pool is opening one day later than usual because some of the lifeguards and staff have graduation on May 25.

“Our pool is very lifeguard friendly,” Whitlock said. “Lifeguards, on their breaks, they’ll get out and really interact with all of the kids that come there.”

Last year was the pool’s third busiest summer in the last 12 years, Whitlock said. The center gets anywhere from 300 to 500 people per day but Whitlock said attendance is all weather-related.

“We’re looking forward to a great summer,” he said.