Alameda pool wraps up summer season
BUTLER TWP — As a teenager, Diane Cress, of Chicora, would do high-dives from the springboard, standing on the edge of the board with her back to the pool before leaping into the water.
Saturday was Cress’ first time back at the Alameda Park Pool this summer. Now an aunt, she brought her niece, Dyanna Warner of Etna, and grand-nephew with her ahead of the pool’s closing day on Sunday, Aug.27.
“We used to be here all the time, like when my niece and her brother and cousins were little kids,” Cress said while applying dollops of sunscreen in the blinding sun. ”We brought them up here all the time.“
Her grand-nephew, Ethan Warner, turned 3 years old in April, she said. Saturday was his first time playing in Alameda Park Pool.
Though Cress said she didn’t see much summer fun this year due to health reasons, she said she and her family visit the Alameda pool frequently each year. The park pool brings something fun to the Butler community, Cress said.
“I just think it’s high on the list of something good to do,” she said.
The closing of the pool, which marks the end of summer, is bittersweet, Crystal Pierce, of Butler, said.
Pierce brought her two daughters, Celeste, 1, and Neveaeh, 5, to the pool Saturday.
“Summer is my favorite season,” Pierce said. “Both of my girls love being outside, so it’s always sad, but I mean, at the same time, the fall brings a lot of fun.”
With the pool closing for the season, Pierce said her family looks forward to going to the pumpkin patch this fall and visiting Keystone Safari and Living Treasures more frequently.
Dannah Palatinus, a sophomore at Butler High School and first-year lifeguard at Alameda, said she used to come to the pool all the time when she was younger.
“I always used to swim here as like a little kid,” she said.
Summer has been slow, she said as she prepared for her shift with her coworker Bryce Hawk, a junior at Butler High. With the closing of the pool and start of the school year, Dannah and Bryce said they will spend the next several months focusing on their classes. They said they plan on returning as lifeguards at the Alameda pool next season.
On closing day, pool staff was expected to put everything away, but there weren’t any special protocols involved, Dannah said. Instead, on a day like any other, and with less than a month of summer days remaining, the closing of the Alameda Park Pool quietly ushered in autumn.
