Swimming Open at Walter Dick Park

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) – Officials in Brookville Borough say that the earlier issues finding enough lifeguards have been resolved, and swimming at Walter Dick Park is now open for the season.

According to Borough Manager Dana Schreckengost, lifeguards started at the park on Saturday, June 8, and swimming will be open daily, seven days per week, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

This is good news for local swimmers, as earlier this year, the council wasn’t sure if they’d be able to find enough lifeguards for the positions this summer. Council member Karen Allgeier noted at the May 8 meeting that at that point, the Personnel Committee had only received two applications, plus one individual with a full-time job who could “cover” sometimes.

With so few applicants, the committee was considering only having swimming at the park open on weekends.

“If that does not work with the applicants that we have for the job, then there will be no swimming at Walter Dick Park this summer,” Allgeier said at the time.

However, once the borough was able to fill those lifeguard positions, swimming was opened for the season.

“I’m very glad we’ve been able to be open on a daily basis this summer and hope to be able to continue that,” Schreckengost told ExploreJeffersonPA.com.

It is especially good news after swimming at the park had a rough season last year. Swimming at Walter Dick Park was closed temporarily last year following high E. coli levels in the water in June.

However, by the time the E. coli levels in the swimming area had gone down to an acceptable level, several of the park’s lifeguards had left for other jobs, forcing the borough to close the park to swimming for the remainder of the summer.

According to Schreckengost, the borough tests for E. coli, as mandated, once per week, and closes swimming at the park when necessary.