Kasson Aquatic Center set to open next weekend

After months of limited social interaction, community members will be able to begin congregating at the Kasson Aquatic Center when it reopens near half-capacity on either Friday, June 19 or Saturday, June 20.
The exact date when the aquatic center will open will be known once the Kasson City Council approves the Parks and Recreation Department’s plan to open when it meets on Wednesday night.
The plan right now is to have the aquatic center open at 7 a.m. and close at either 8 or 8:30 p.m.
Pool Manager Josh Mitchell said the aquatic center will be limited to just 250 patrons at a time.
Despite the reduced capacity, he said the aquatic center will be fully staffed.
However, the staff will have to get used to some adjustments, such as the concessions staff who will have to wear masks on top of the standard gloves.
Another change to concessions, Mitchell said, is they won’t serve hot dogs, pizza or popcorn. That change is being made to reduce the amount of cleaning and sanitizing that would have to be done in the kitchen area. 
To keep patrons healthy beyond the kitchen area, he said dots and arrows will be painted on the floor of the aquatic center as a way to indicate the six feet recommended for social distancing. Each dot will be six feet apart from the next one while the arrows will indicate which way to go to prevent patrons from being within six feet from each other when going in opposite directions.
Another way Mitchell is trying to prevent patron proximity is by trying not to have swim breaks, but if there’s an emergency and everyone has to exit a pool, he said swimmers should either find a dot or arrow or enter the other pool.
All the slides will be operational, but he said social distancing guidelines will be applied to all slide lines.
Parks and Recreation Director Ron Unger said extra staff will assist patrons in following social distancing protocols
Maintaining social distance in the locker room will be more difficult given the confined space. To reduce traffic in the locker rooms, Mitchell strongly recommenders that patrons wear their swimsuits to the aquatic center rather than putting them on in the locker rooms.
Another way he’s trying to prevent patrons from being in proximity to each other in the locker rooms is by reducing the number of the showers that can be used in each locker room from four to two.
He said locker rooms should be viewed as restrooms.
Due to the late start to the season, no season passes will be sold. The daily cost of entering the aquatic center is $5.
Parent/Tot swim will take place from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. The cost for each person taking part is $3.
No swimming lessons will be held this summer.
Lap swim will take place from 6 to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. The afternoon and evening will be split into two reservation times. The early afternoon reservation will begin at noon and end at 3:30 p.m. The late afternoon reservation begins at 4:30 and ends at 8 p.m.
If patrons don’t show up in the first 90 minutes of their reservation, their reservation will expire.
To make reservations, patrons can visit https://sites.google.com/view/kasson-aquatic-center/home. Reservations will close for the upcoming time slot will close 15 minutes before the session is set to start. That means those wanting to swim at noon must make a reservation before 11:45 a.m.
Reservations can be made up to 14 days in advance.
Mitchell said that the aquatic center’s hours may be different for the July 4 holiday.
The original plan was to have the pool close for the summer on Wednesday, August 26, but with the late start to the season Mitchell said the closing date is still up in the air due to staff availability.