By Councilmember Bill Miranda
It’s the quintessential activity during the long, hot days of summer. Grabbing your friends and family and heading down to the pool to beat the heat, lounge around and experience a bit of freedom by getting out of the house for a few hours. Now that school is out and the scorching summer months are here, it is the perfect time to relive those glory days – and allow your children to do the same, at one of Santa Clarita’s City pools.
The City of Santa Clarita operates pools at five park locations, in addition to the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center. No matter where you live in our City, you will find a place to cool off not too far down the road. Here are the locations, which also include child play areas, picnic tables, community rooms and much more:
- Newhall Park – 24923 Newhall Avenue in Newhall
- North Oaks Park – 27824 Camp Plenty Road in Canyon Country
- Santa Clarita Park – 27285 Seco Canyon Road in Saugus
- Valencia Glen Park – 23750 Via Gavola in Valencia
- Valencia Meadows Park – 25671 Fedala Road in Valencia
Of course, you can also take your family down to the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center (20850 Centre Pointe Parkway) and make use of the 50-meter pool, the dive pool, the kid-friendly water slide and play structures. Is there anything better than climbing up to the top of the high dive and experiencing the momentary feeling of weightlessness as you execute the perfect cannonball?
As parents and grandparents, watching little ones have the thrill of a lifetime going down the water slide or splashing through the play area is a wonderful feeling, especially now that the renovation work performed by City staff in the offseason is complete! In addition to repainting support columns, City staff also replaced the slide with a new one for the smallest swimmers and installed a new roof to provide shade. The steel foundation of the play structure has also been upgraded to give kids a play area that is stronger and safer.
While the Aquatic Center and other pools in the City offer recreational swim time, I also want to encourage you to take advantage of classes and activities offered at these facilities. Enroll in swim lessons so you and your child can become stronger swimmers. You can also explore programs like underwater hockey, water polo, water exercise and water safety courses. Learn more about all of the programs offered at City pools, as well as fees and membership requirements, by visiting santa-clarita.com/Aquatics.
When the temperature starts rising and you’re looking for a family-friendly activity everyone will enjoy, I hope I’ll see you down at one of the wonderful pools in Santa Clarita!
Bill Miranda is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council and can be reached at [email protected].