LOGAN – The Parks and Recreation Department here has released its annual report on the 2024 summer season at the Logan Aquatic Center.
The good news in that summary is that the outdoor pool complex is slowly regaining much of the former popularity it enjoyed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
A vocal minority of city critics may consider the report to be disappointing, however, in that fails to address their concerns for the addition of an indoor pool facility to city services.
In terms of daily average attendance, the Aquatic Center hit a peak in 2019, when a record number of 111,981 locals used that facility throughout the summer. The three-pool Aquatic Center’s daily capacity is 1,200 users, meaning that the facility operated at about 90 percent of capacity that season.
In 2020, when the Aquatic Center would only have been allowed to operate at 50 percent of its capacity due to the pandemic, city officials took that opportunity to shutter the pool facility to conduct much-needed maintenance.
After the pools reopened in 2021, city officials reported total attendance of 104,770 users that season and 106,482 users the following year, which represented the facility operating at 72 percent of capacity.
When a shortage of lifeguards caused the Aquatic Center to limit its hours in 2023, total attendance declined to 93,385, with the city pools operating at about 58 percent of capacity.
In this past year, however, total attendance climbed to 108,845 users, representing the pools operating at 77 percent of capacity.
Constructed in 2001, the 2.5-acre Logan Aquatic Center complex consists of a 50-meter pool and a diving well with low and high diving boards, an accessible leisure pool with two water features and a 40-foot-tall slide tower with two water slides.
The facility also features a splash pool, showers, locker rooms, restrooms, concession space and staff offices.
The Aquatic center provides a variety of programs including swimming lessons, water aerobics, a hydrofit classes, lap swimming, fit for life seniors, and Boy Scout merit badge classes. Lifeguard training and water safety instruction are also offered.
The center is open daily in the summer for public swimming and can be rented in the evening for exclusive group use.
Weather permitting, the Logan Aquatic Center is open to the public from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day each summer.