BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County Recreational Park Pool officially concluded its summer season Saturday, Aug. 7, and it was one that turned out to notch better attendance numbers than county officials had anticipated.

Upshur County Pool Director Hannah Lively said the pool was busier than expected this season.

“Overall, I feel like it was pretty much back to normal,” Lively said. “We actually had an increase in patrons because of the pool passes that were given out by the Board of Education, which I feel like was a positive thing. We’ve always wanted a way to get people to the pool and the board helped out with that.”

“There was about two or three weeks there that people were coming consistently, and we were busy and then all of a sudden, it just kind of tapered off – maybe they were going on vacation and whatnot – but we definitely had more patrons than expected,” she added.

She said new additions such as the wiggle bridge, floating animals and flowers gongs were popular.

“They love them. Kids were always playing on them, and people were always commenting on how fun the new attractions were or what else we were going to get in the future, and those are things that the commissioners are thinking about,” Lively said.

So far, the only definite change prior to the 2022 season is a new paint job for the pool.

“Structurally, the pool is getting painted before next year,” Lively said. “They are draining it, and they’re going to repaint the bottom of the pool to liven it up a little bit, and I’m not sure if we’re getting any other gadgets or anything like that for the facility, but I just talked with the commissioners about offering additional times for swim lessons for working parents and making sure that everybody’s accommodated.”

Swim lessons remained one of the most in-demand activities available at the pool.

“Swim lessons are always popular,” Lively said. “We did add a couple evening swim lessons that were pretty popular this year, and we don’t normally do that, but I would say that’s probably the biggest attraction we offer. In the past, pool parties have been a pretty hot commodity, and this year they just weren’t – they weren’t booked – and I think that was because of COVID. I think that was one of the struggles … people didn’t want to get together in big groups, so they didn’t book the parties and they didn’t book the pavilions like they normally do.”

Lively hopes to add a larger slide in the future if the funds become available.

“In the near future, I would like to see a larger slide,” she said. “That’s something that I discussed at the Parks and Rec committee [meeting], and we talked about it, but it’s just so expensive. I know we’re working towards that, but we want to make sure that it’s not going to be a waste of money because it will be expensive.”

Lively also noted the pool is always looking for lifeguards and she hopes certification classes will be more widely available next season.