MILWAUKEE—Summer pool season in Wisconsin has started just in time for the weather to heat up.

David Conrad of Milwaukee is excited to start his summer.

“Now that the pools, I can come here every week,” Conrad said.

He was the first one to enter Schulz Aquatic Park in Milwaukee when it opened to the public.

“I love that I can go down water slides and the lazy river and have a lot of stuff to do, unlike other pools that only have a few things,” said Conrad.

Milwaukee County Parks has also opened five splash pads, nine wading pools and four outdoor pools. Executive Director Guy Smith said he calls the opening of pool season a celebration.

“After two and half, something years of the pandemic, I think people are wanting to have some sort of normalcy and to be able to provide something like this at a very reasonable price is awesome, and that’s why we are here. We are supporting our community and provide amenities,” said Smith.

Unfortunately, other parks like Pelican Grove aren’t open this year because of a lifeguard shortage. Smith said they are working on training new life guards to have as many as they did pre-pandemic.

“We are focused on keeping all of the facilities that we have right now and then working to build the core that we have so we can open more next year,” he said.

For Conrad, what he will enjoy the most is being able to spend more time at the water than he had during the height of the pandemic.

“It was only giving you two hours of swimming time and then you had to get out and then of course the website you had to login to, that was a big hassle so being able to spend the full 4 hours here from 12-4 or 12-5 is actually really nice because I’m diabetic so swimming around having fun actually lowers my blood sugar,” said Conrad.

Conrad said he definitely plans to go down the water slide again and again.

For what’s available in Milwaukee County, click here.