BUTTE - Butte’s outdoor pool at Stodden Park will be closing out its summer season early this year.
“Did we have summer?,” joked pool manager Mark Fisher.
Though Butte’s weather did not always feel like summer, management at the Ridge Waters pool said the reason for closing early was not due to the weather. It’s a staffing issue, since many of the young lifeguards will be returning school.
So instead of closing on Labor Day, the last day will be Aug. 25.
“One priority is the safety of the patrons that come in here and if we don’t have adequate staff to man the deck with life guards I don’t want to open the pool,” said Fisher.
Poor weather did force the pool to close this summer, which was the second year for the $7 million taxpayer funded pool.
“We had a ton of weather issues that we never did last year. I think we shut down two times last year for weather and we’ve been shut down over two handfuls this year,” said Fisher.
Despite a summer of setbacks and delays, management at Ridge Waters says the new pool is operating perfectly and they will be back next summer.
“The facility has been running just like it was brand new, just like it was last year. No, we’ve had zero problems with the facility so we’re good to go there,” said Fisher.
The splash pad at Clark Park and the wading pool at Chester Steel Park will also close that same day.
