Toddlers squealed as they zoomed down a red slide, shaped like a tongue sticking out of a green frog, in the new Esper A. Petersen Family Aquatic Center.
More than 500 swimmers came out despite low temperatures when it opened on Saturday, and hundreds more are turning out this week at he long-awaited pool.
For the smallest swimmers, the pool offers a shallow entry with fountains, tumble buckets and water cannons, and sand play area. Older kids can splash down the 180-foot-long tube slide and 120-foot-long body slide that are both 25 feet high and swim in pool depths from zero to 12 feet. On a sunny afternoon this week, older kids lined up fast for the big slides.
“It was so cool!” exclaimed Jordan Martin, 13, of Grayslake after a turn on the body slide. “It was … a bunch of turns, and when you went around the corners, you splashed way up.”
Over in the shallow end, Cindy Hooten of Grayslake said she liked the shallow area for her daughters, Courtney, 3, and Brittany, 4. “I’m impressed with how much the pool offers for the little ones,” she said.
A total of 8,000 season passes have already been sold, said Bob Lashbrook, executive director of the Grayslake Community Park District. No additional non-resident passes will be issued, but non-residents can pay a daily fee. With a capacity of 1,000 bathers, the pool can handle up to 3,000 people a day. Swimming lessons filled up with 1,800 children.
According to Grayslake Mayor Pat Carey, the pool represents intergovernmental cooperation.
“The village owns the pool, but offered a five-year lease to the Park District to operate it,” she said. “We worked together to provide a great destination for families.”
In the past, residents rejected two referendum questions to build a pool in 1993 and 1997. The aquatic center was finally built with no new taxes thanks to a $750,000 donation from the Esper A. Petersen Foundation.
The village covered the remainder of the $3.3 million aquatic center costs. The Park District contributed $700,000 in a land donation to build the facility at Central Park.
“The tube slide is the best,” declared Westley Zimmer, 9 of Grayslake, splashing with five friends in the shallow end. “I’ll be here a lot this summer.”
