An essential part of summer

Children in swimsuits giggled as they paddled around the lazy river on a recent hot and sunny day at Woodland Water Park in Kalispell. It was a typical scene for the public pool, where the city hosts its annual swim lesson program.

Wendy Putzler said her children count down the days for the swim lessons to begin every summer.

“It feels like camp for the kids,” Putzler said. “My daughter has taken lessons here since she was 6 months old, now she’s 11. We’re on the rivers and lakes all the time. It feels kind of vital.”

That sentiment is the driving force behind the program, said Kalispell Recreation Superintendent Mark Freidline.

“It’s one of the most important skill sets a kid can have,” Freidline said, making note of Northwest Montana’s numerous lakes and rivers.

Each summer, the city hires 12 to 15 instructors and 50 to 60 other part-time staff to manage Woodland Water Park, where the city has been hosting swim lessons since it was constructed 15 years ago. This summer, those instructors are teaching about 850 children to swim.

The program includes four separate two-week sessions. Classes meet three times per week on Tuesday through Thursday for 35 minutes.

Kids can take part in one two-week session or all four, Freidline said. Each session costs $41 per child — a price that Freidline said is much less expensive than many other cities.

The program is available to anyone, regardless of whether they live in Kalispell or another city, Freidline said. Most years the swim program walks the line of being at capacity without having to turn many people away, he added.

The final swim session of the summer still has spots open and runs from July 31 through Aug. 9. Those interested can register at the Woodland Water Park registration desk.

Lesson costs go toward offsetting instructor wages, Freidline said, and the city backfills the rest of the money required to operate the program. Running the pool costs about $280,000 annually, Freidline said, and they generate about $160,000 in revenue.

The difference of about $120,000 is something Freidline said the City Council feels is an appropriate price tag for offering the public service. He said they had consistently voted not to raise entrance fees so the pool was available to people from a greater range of economic backgrounds.

This year the city decided to raise the cost of lessons by $2, but kept the entrance fees the same. A day of swimming at Woodland Water Park costs $4 for children ages 1 through 5, and $5 for children ages 6 through 15. People over 16 pay a $6 entrance fee, while children less than 12 months old get in free.

The pool gets about 20,000 visits in the typical summer season, and Freidline said the city considers the pool as a good way to benefit area businesses by bringing in people from around the valley.

Even in a time when seasonal employees are hard to come by in other sectors, Freidline said they never have a hard time staffing the pool. This year they received more than 90 applications for around 60 spots, and annually about two-thirds of their staff chooses to return.

The only thing keeping the city from ramping up the number of children they accept in the swim program is more equipment, Freidline said. Specifically, they city needs more underwater platforms that give kids a chance to rest as they swim from end to end in the lap pool.

The platforms retail for around $1,500, but Freidline is hoping to get a local high school shop class to make some for just the cost of materials, which he estimates would be closer to $100.

More platforms would open a greater portion of the lap pool, and let more instructors teach more kids at the same time than currently possible.

Woodland Water Park is located at 45 Woodland Park Drive, and can be reached at 406-758-7812 or 406-758-7849.

Reporter Peregrine Frissell can be reached at (406) 758-4438 or pfrissell@dailyinterlake.com.