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News 2011
News 2011
Good news -- the City has dropped its plan to schedule the wading pool “face-lift” for this spring. The planned completion date of June 20 would most likely have caused the wading pool to be closed for part of the summer.
The wading pool is closed for the season. Thanks for a great summer! We hope to see many of you at our ice rink and winter programs.
From the Summer 2011 Newsletter:
Wading pool: The wading pool is set to open for the season on June 30, although it will open sooner if there are two or more days over 28 degrees before then. During the summer, the wading pool is open 7 days a week from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., except if on really hot days – then the wading pool stays open until 8 pm. All children must wear bathing suits or swim diapers. Swim diapers are available at the wading pool for the cost price.
The pool surface is a bit slippery; rubber swim shoes can help. The pool is supplied with little boats and other toys – feel free to donate more! Water wings are allowed but no larger float devices that could obscure visibility. The Dufferin Grove pool, because it’s got shade, gets very busy, and the pool attendants need to see well.
Sandpit and playground: The sandpit is a fine place to make dams using real shovels and logs and the continuous stream from the watertap. There’s a good old-fashioned wooden playground right beside it, of the type that’s been torn out of most city parks in favour of plastic. Spread over both play areas are the big Norway maples, so that on hot days it’s always five or ten degrees cooler in that wonderful shade. There is also a wheelchair-accessible swing, and this summer the recreation program staff want to add a few other access features for challenged children. (All advice is welcome.)
In the eighteen years that the sandpit has been at the park, there have been very few injuries. Children are talented at looking out for each other. Once in a long while there’s a child who is reckless with a shovel. If you are a parent or caregiver and see someone using a shovel to hit or throw dirt, please tell them to stop. If they don’t listen, tell the wading pool staff right away. Interference is helpful – it takes a village (park!) to raise a child.
There was concern from park neighbours that the sewer in the laneway would be plugged at the bottom of the “river,” with sand being washed into the drain, so that they’d get backup into their basements. The City’s Technical Services supervisor John Abela tested the drains by sending a camera along the whole length of the pipe. It turns out that (a) the laneway sewer is connected to a kind of holding tank under the corner of Sylvan and Dufferin, so it doesn’t lead to drain pipes close to houses and (b) the camera found minimal sand or debris in there. It’s good that John got it checked, for everybody’s peace of mind. Waterplay is a wonderful thing for children, whether it’s a splash pad, a wading pool, or a sandpit. Nice to know it’s not a problem.