Splish Splash

While it appeared early on the threat of lightning would put a damper on the donor preview of Sidney's new aquatic center late Thursday afternoon, weather conditions cleared up just enough to allow children some pool fun ahead of Friday's official opening.

"It's been five years in the making," said Tom Von Seggern, park superintendent for the City of Sidney. "People are getting excited to come out."

Construction on the $5 million aquatic center began Aug. 17 last year and passed its final state inspection this week just in time for Memorial Day weekend. It was funded through grants, special sales tax allocation, city general funds and private contributions.

The new facility, which replaces the established pool after nearly 40 years of service, contains a 3,400-square-foot six-lane competition pool with accommodations for water polo, basketball and volleyball, a 2,100-square-foot leisure pool featuring a 90-foot lazy river, five deck geysers and a 20-foot slide.

The aquatic center also features changing areas and a concessions stand.

As a thank you to community members and businesses who donated to help fund the project, a donor recognition and private preview event was held Thursday afternoon starting at 5 p.m. Donors were mailed invitations and entrance passes for the event.

The donor list includes a broad range of donations for the project, with large donations from the Peter Kiewit Foundation, Cabela's, Sidney Regional Medical Center, Cheyenne County Community Center and others, to smaller donations down to an anonymously sent $1 bill.

"It was in an unmarked envelope," Economic Development Director Tina Hochwender said of the anonymous donation.

While the aquatic center's construction is completed, there is still work to do with landscaping and grading around the property. With no grass surrounding the facility, Nebraska's windy spring conditions have made keeping the pools free from dirt a daily routine for staff.

"Wind gusts come through, and we end up with dirt in the pool," Von Seggern said. "But we just vacuum it every morning."

Von Seggern said spray-on mulch will be spread around the aquatic center in the future to help create a barrier and allow grass to grow without the seeds blowing away in the wind.

"It's going to add a green tint to it, that hyrdomulch, but it'll be enough to cover a good portion of the north and west," he said. "It'll hold that seed in there until it germinates."

Early on, with stormy conditions on the horizon and expected to make its way into Sidney, it appeared that the donor preview was going to be little more than a tour.

"We have to be careful with the lightning so close," Hochwender said.

Five-year-old Lucas Eddy was all set to enter the pool, but could do nothing more than look at all of the fun pool activities, such as dumping buckets and a small water spray dome, as his grandmother, Kim Dykman, consoled him.

"Maybe they will let us in in a little bit," Dykman said to her grandson. "We'll have to wait and see, because you don't want to be in the water if there's going to be lightning."

Dykman, who received passes through her employer, Adams Industries, said her grandchildren were excited for the aquatic center's opening.

"We were all ready," she said. "Even if we can't today, we'll get to. It'll be summer eventually."

Half an hour passed, and Lucas was starting to lose hope that he would get to play in the pool at all that day.

But at 5:35 p.m., the pool manager gave the all clear, and Lucas immediately jumped into the water.

By 5:38 p.m., he was back on the deck under his towel, shivering.

"It's cold," Lucas said, teeth chattering as he spoke. "It's fun."

Lucas returned to the pool shortly after, and was soon joined by several other children as they tried out the lazy river, the two slides and the lap pool.

The Sidney Aquatic Center is located at 2356 Fort Sidney Rd. It officially opened to the public Friday for lap swimming at noon, and then public swimming at 1 p.m., although rainy conditions through the day threatened to cause a delay.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Von Seggern said Thursday evening. "That's Nebraska weather for you."

Public swimming will be daily from 1 to 5 p.m., with night swimming available from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. Adult lap swimming will be Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m. and again from 5 to 6 p.m.

Daily admission for children 5 years and under and seniors 62 years and older is $3, youth between 6 and 18 years is $4, adults from 18 to 61 years old is $5. Season passes for individuals and families are also available at Sidney City Hall located at 1115 13th Ave.

"We do just the daily admissions here, so if they want a pass, they have to get them at city hall," Von Seggern said.

Donations are still being accepted and can be made to the city clerk at the Sidney City Hall. They can also be mailed to: City of Sidney, Attn: City Clerk, P.O. Box 79, Sidney, NE 69162. Hochwender asked that "Pool Fund" be included in the memo section for all checks.

"We're still about $200,000 short of meeting our goal, so we would love to receive more donations," Hochwender said.

More information on the prices and services available at the Sidney Aquatic Center can be found on the City of Sidney's website at cityofsidney.org.