By Kevin Coughlin
If you couldn’t find anyone in Morris Township on Saturday, you were searching the wrong places.
Everyone was at the pool.
The revamped Ginty Pool. Township Recreation Director Bill Foelsch estimated that a thousand people — including 300 first-timers– flocked to the “Big Splash” party and open house, which officially signaled the pool’s re-opening after completion of $2 million in renovations that started last fall.
Visitors discovered a new water slide, shaded jacuzzi-style seating in one end of the pool, an upgraded kiddie pool, a contraption that dumps buckets of water on appreciative kids, and four heaters to keep the water comfortable. Permanent lights are coming soon, too, for periodic pool nights.
“We tried to keep the feeling of the old pool” while bringing the 46-year-old facility into the 21st century, Foelsch said, as a father and daughter played ping pong and the Bottle Openers Band packed up after a day of hot music.
(We understand Mayor Dan Caffrey supplied some dazzling guitar work; please send photos if you got ’em!)
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“There’s an all-new atmosphere. Adults love it more than the kids. I do!” exclaimed Jim Koons, back at the pool for the first time in years. He used to bring his children; this time, it was the grandkids.
But some amenities seemed to amuse kids and grownups alike.
“The slide’s a real rush!” said Nancy Doyle, making her first visit to the pool after living down the street for more than a decade.
“I like the new stairs on the diving board. And the slide’s really fun,” said Kaden Lehman, 11.
His pal Luis Antunez, 12, is a fan of the new design, too.
“I like the setup here,” Antunez said. “It’s unique. You don’t see many pools with different parts like this pool.”
The Streeter Pool, built in 1971, is scheduled for a facelift this winter. Foelsch is hoping work crews won’t encounter as many freezing days as they did for the Ginty renovations. Frozen ground impeded the laying of underground pipes, he said, delaying the season opening for weeks.
Construction workers also found more groundwater than they anticipated, Foelsch said.
But on Saturday none of that mattered to 10-year-old Lila Onigman, who summed up the new Ginty experience succintly.
“It’s awesome!” she said.
Why?
“Because… it’s awesome,” Lila explained to an observer who obviously was all wet.
Coming up this week in the Township:
Tuesday, July 14, 2015: The Hanover Wind Symphony at Ginty Field, at 7 pm. Admission: Free.
Wednesday, July 15: Dolphin Tale 2, also at Ginty, also free. Deejay music at 7:30 pm, the movie rolls at dusk.
