The Westshore Pool offers a fun and cool place to hang out this summer. Photo courtesy of Scott Harter.

LAKEPORT – With a scorching summer visiting the county this year, a number of new programs at Lakeport's Westshore Pool offer adults and children alike a chance to stay cool and exercise.

This is the second summer the Westshore Pool has been open since it was renovated in the spring of 2007. The season opened June 16.

Because it had been some time since the pool had been open, the city of Lakeport's Public Works Department – which oversees the pool – set about setting up new programs for the public, said department secretary Tina Banuet.

Banuet said the pool is open for public swims Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. The cost is $3 for children ages 2 to 17, $4 for 18 years and older, and $2 for seniors. Season passes also are available, costing $175 for ages 2 through 17, $250 for adults 18 and over, and $100 for seniors.

Family passes, which cost $15, admit two adults and three children for a day, with some flexibility offered if there is one less adult and an additional child, she said.

Children age 9 years and younger must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older, without exception. Anyone entering the pool, even adult spectators, must pay the entrance fee.

Those fees help offset part of the city's cost of operating the pool, which Banuet said ran approximately $50,000 – excluding capital improvements – in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

After the first experience of running the pool last summer, Banuet said department staff and Public Works Director Doug Grider set about expanding the pool's offerings for this season.

She said they researched what other counties offered at their pools. “That's how we came up with everything this year,” she said.

New this year is an adult swim, held Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., said Banuet. The cost is $2 per day. The adult swims end Aug. 21.

The pool also now offers swimming lessons for children at all skill levels – beginners, advanced beginner and intermediate – this season, said Banuet.

Two swimming lesson sessions remain open for this year, running from July 28 through Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 through Aug. 21, Banuet said. The cost is $60 per child.

Among the other new offerings this year are pool parties, which groups can book on Friday nights and on Sundays, said Banuet.

Banuet called attendance at the pool this year “awesome,” with daily attendance averaging between 50 and 100 people, up from last year. A day care also visits the pool five days a week, bringing between 40 and 60 children, besides camps and other organizations using the pool this summer.

The pool, which is staffed by five lifeguards, will close for the season Saturday, Aug. 30, Banuet said.

Keeping the pool open year round is a goal, said Banuet. “We would like to – we just haven't gotten that far yet.”

For more information call the Lakeport Public Works Department, 263-3077.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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