Facility had a banner season for attendance
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
Jeanne Otter, director of the Burlington Community Aquatic Center, described the 2021 season in one word: Fabulous.
The Aquatic Center, which saw limited attendance in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reportedly brought in 46,420 people through Saturday in 2021.
“It is the best year, yet – by far,” said Otter, noting the 2019 season garnered attendance of 38,790.
“This year exceeded that by a lot.”
Otter said the Aquatic Center never had to turn anyone away because of capacity limits for the 2021 season.
Between both pools, under state statute, the Aquatic Center cannot allow more than 746 people combined at a given time.
“We have never had to turn anyone away this year because we haven’t hit that maximum number at one point,” she said.
Meeting demand
Although the Aquatic Center never met capacity, Otter can safely say the facility bustled with traffic for most of the season, but officials kept up with the demand.
Meeting demand includes ordering more food for the concession stand as well as calling in more lifeguards and pool attendants.
“Our concession stand has been working nonstop on busy days like this,” Otter said on Saturday when temperatures climbed into the 90s. “We have had to double up on our food deliveries during weeks when it has been super busy to keep up with the food demand.”
On Saturday, one day before the season concluded, Otter called in more lifeguards to supervise people using the pool.
While the Aquatic Center now sits empty as the season is concluded, Otter’s work isn’t quite finished, she said.
She plans on remaining busy wrapping up the 2021 season and winterizing the facility until October.
“I will be here to close things up in the next couple of months, hopefully I will have most things wrapped up by the end of October,” she said. “Then in January, I start reaching out to employees and start that process.”
As for 2021, Otter commended the community for its overwhelming support.
“It has been fabulous. I would love to thank the community for supporting us in a lot of ways,” she said.
For a more complete version of this story see the Sept. 2 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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