Altona recreation department looks back on another successful summer

Now that vacation season has ended and students are back in class, summer is all but done.

Altona Recreation manager Eric Hildebrand says his department enjoyed a fantastic summer overall.

"Right from the Gallery in the Park, to Centennial Park which features our campground and of course our Aquatic Center, and I think one of the main reasons for that is early spring weather just really kicked things off and allowed for people to get outside and to start taking in, whether it was the sport organizations that were able to get outside and get their seasons going with very few setbacks based on weather. Definitely, weather has to be attributed to a great start to our season."

Individual swimming lesson registrations jumped up 5% from last year. Hildebrand says one of the reasons behind the increase was the addition of one-week lessons.

"Feedback from parents that registered their children in the one-week lessons has been extremely positive, to the point that we will be adding more one-week lessons next season. So right aways early in June, we were doing swimming lessons for newcomers as well as facilitating swim days or swimming events through the local Altona and area schools. And then of course you have some free swim days. Those days, we often hit capacity and you have lineups down the sidewalk, which is great to see."

Great weather allowed for those events to be very well attended said Hildebrand. 

"You have to credit the staff for doing an ongoing, fantastic job promoting a safe and fun environment at the Aquatic Center. But again, I think weather played a large part in the swimming pool and same with the campground."

The Aquatic Centre registered over 540 individual swimming lessons in 2023. 

With files from Candace Derksen

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