Summertime is pool time


The Pipestone Family Aquatic Center opened for the season on Tuesday, June 6. It will be open regularly Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesdays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Family fun time will be Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and lap swim will be Mondays through Fridays from noon to 1 p.m.

Daily admission is $3 for those ages 7 and up, and $2 for those under 7, senior citizens, observers, after 5 p.m., lap swim and family fun time. Season ticket prices range from $70 for a single resident age 7 and up to $147 for a non-resident family of six or more people. Punch cards are also available for $30 for 10 punches.

Brooklyn Hiniker is the new manager of the Pipestone Family Aquatic Center. The pool opened for the season on Tuesday, June 6. K. Kuphal

Joining the team as manager this year is Brooklyn Hiniker, a 2020 Pipestone Area Schools graduate. Hiniker, 21, was previously a lifeguard at the Pipestone Family Aquatic Center for four years and has been the assistant manager at the pool in Flandreau the last two years. She’s a senior at South Dakota State University, studying physical education with the intention of becoming a special education physical education teacher in the area.
Hiniker said the week before the pool opened that she was interested in the manager position because she’s always loved to swim and enjoys working with children. Her goal is to make the aquatic center as fun and safe as possible for the kids.

“There are kids who will get dropped off here at 1 p.m. and they’ll stay until 8 p.m., depending on our hours,” she said. “I just want them to have fun and to feel welcome.”

In addition to recreational swimming, the aquatic center offers swimming lessons. Hiniker said there were so many preschoolers signed up for swimming lessons this year that she had to add two additional sections, making a total of four sections for that age group. She said that interest among young children is a good thing.

“That’s the age where you want them to be comfortable in the water, so that there’s not a big risk factor with them and they know their boundaries and where they’re safe at,” she said.

As far as staffing, Hiniker said the aquatic center was well prepared with up to 17 lifeguards if all the new guards passed their training, which she said takes about 30 hours and includes laps, retrieving a brick from the bottom of the 12-foot area, treading water for two minutes without using hands, CPR and first aid training, and more. She said pool staff will also be participating in a training session with local emergency medical technicians to prepare for an emergency situation.

In addition to lifeguards, Hiniker said there are other employees who will cover the front desk, concessions and the top of the slide. Hiniker said she was looking forward to working with the employees during the upcoming season.

“We have a good group of kids, so I’m just ready to have fun with them,” she said.

Upcoming events at the aquatic center include a free pool party on Sunday, June 11 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for preschool through fifth grade students and their families. The event is being paid for by the Pipestone Elementary Booster Club and the Monogram Loves Kids Foundation.

Hiniker said she also wanted to have a DJ to provide music at the pool at some point and that there would likely be another doggie plunge at the pool at the end of the season. Those events have not yet been scheduled.