Gilley Pool attendance exceeds expectations: New facility draws nearly 25,000 in first two months

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Patrons at the Gilley Pool enjoy some of the features that have made the facility successful beyond the expectations of city officials, as well as breaking attendance re-cords. (Charles W. Johnson photo)

The first two months of attendance at the new Gilley Pool have more than met expectations in terms of both visitors and revenue, city officials said.

In figures released by the McMinnville Parks and Recreation Department Friday for the months of June and July of this year, the Gilley Pool drew almost 25,000 visitors, with 12,518 visitors in June and 12,064 in July.

Those figures indicate a dramatic increase in interest in the new pool, compared to figures from 2001, the last year the old pool was open, when 16,000 people visited the old city pool during the entire pool season.

City officials said they are pleased with the figures so far and made note of budget projections for the 2003-2004 fiscal year that predict revenue at the pool to total $90,000. Pool admissions in July of this year, which is technically the first month of the city’s 2003-2004 fiscal year, show almost $37,000 in revenue.

“In my mind, all the data looks wonderful,” City Administrator Herb Llewellyn said. “We have 41 percent of the admission revenue already met this year in about 25 percent of the selling year,” he said of pool revenue as indicated in the budget. Additionally, projections for concessions revenue, targeted at $40,000 for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, have already been halfway met during the month of July.

Although the month of June is not included in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the past two months have brought in almost $132,000 in revenue, including admissions, aerobics classes, pool passes where the same person may have visited the pool more than once during the month, processing fees and concessions, indicating initial revenue projections may be low.

About $75,000 in revenue was collected in June, with about $57,000 collected in July.

“The things we thought were going to happen are happening,” Llewellyn said. “We wanted the operation of the pool to be revenue neutral,” he added, noting there is a potential for the revenue to help pay for the capital expense of the pool, which was not anticipated.

August admissions or revenue was naturally expected to decrease, since school begins Aug. 13 and pool hours will be shortened. Beginning Aug. 13, the pool will be open from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. during times school is in session.

On weekends, the pool will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.