HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Despite a very strong start, the number of people who used the Salt City Splash declined in 2020.
Ted Nelson of Hutch Rec says the pool saw tremendous use in the first month before attendance dropped off sharply in July. Numbers were able to rebound again in August but overall attendance was down about 10%, according to Nelson. Still, he was happy they got to stay open throughout the year with no problems related to the pandemic.
“We are happy to have finished out the season,” Nelson said. “We thought of some staff members getting sick which means others would quarantine which would cause us to have to close down for a brief time or early for the summer. We didn’t have either of those things.”
The splash numbers for 2020 totaled 28,250 compared with 31,524 in 2019. In Buhler, the numbers for the year were actually up with 5,638 taking advantage of the pool compared with 4,653 the year before.