Deep River Waterpark has experienced attendance fluctuation, as have other area pools, as entertainment options increase and weather becomes more unpredictable.
Lake County Parks CEO Jim Basala said attendance has decreased at the waterpark since it opened in the 1995 — when more than 200,000 people would visit the park throughout the summer — to the present day. In recent years, Basala said the park has seen between 135,000 to 150,000 people visit throughout the summer.
The biggest reason for the decrease in attendance is the increased competition, Basala said. Families have more options on how to spend their time and money for entertainment, he said.
Specifically for aquatics entertainment, Basala said people can choose to go to an area YMCA pool or a splash pad. Over the years, splash pads have become more popular because it is cost efficient and less of a time commitment than a waterpark, he said.
“Not everybody needs a full-fledged waterpark,” Basala said. “If you have a couple of 3 year olds, you just need some water spraying and they’re going to be happy.”
Aquatic facilities, especially outdoor ones, have to contend with weather as well, Basala said. This year, June saw a lot of rain and chillier weather, Basala said.
“It seemed as though we could never get a cycle of having really good hot, dry days on the weekend. It helps when you can string two, three, four days into summer,” Basala said.
When the park first opened, it would be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which is 102 days, Basala said. Now, the waterpark decreases its operating hours because staff start going back to college, he said.
Currently, the park is in its limited operations week — which means visitors can enter at a discounted rate and ride rides that are open as staff is available to operate them, Basala said.
“After this week, during the week, we will not be open because we cannot staff it. That’s three weeks of an inability to staff a park because everybody’s in school,” Basala said.
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That means that the park won’t be open for 15 days in August, which would’ve likely brought 40,000 people to the waterpark weather permitting, Basala said. With $30 in expenditure per person, that translates to $1.2 million in revenue losses for the park, he said.
The waterpark has been looking for ways to increase attendance, like upgrades and consideration for new rides, Basala said.
“We’re always trying to improve and better what we offer, but when you look at rides … they are not cheap,” Basala said.
Brisza Navarro, manager of the Wolf Lake Aquatic Play Center in Hammond, said that this summer’s attendance numbers have been strong, but there has been a slight decrease compared to last year.
The decrease stems from the rain in June and July, Navarro said.
“But on the hot days we have a lot of people that come in,” Navarro said.
Abby Kresal, the recreation supervisor with the Munster Parks and Recreation Department, said the Munster Community Pool closed for the season Sunday.
In May and June, the pool reported an attendance of 7,917 people and an attendance of 8,199 in July, Kresal said. In August, the pool saw an attendance of 2,102, she said.
Compared to last summer, Kresal said the pool saw a minimal increase in attendance.
“We had some days that were really slow,” Kresal said.
Under policy, the pool doesn’t open if the temperature dips under 70 degrees, Kresal said, so June was a challenge amid the cooler and rainy weather. When the weather was really hot, Kresal said the pool reached capacity of 620 people.
The pool didn’t open six days this summer and either closed early or opened later seven days, Kresal said.
“We try to keep it open as much as we can because it’s only open 11 weeks,” Kresal said.
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