With school out for the summer, the Hobart Parks Department is making sure local teenagers are having the time of their lives. This Friday marked the return of the Hobart Pool Dance Party, open exclusively to teens in middle and high school.
A warm evening, upbeat music, and good food all made for one awesome party. Nikki Lopez, Director of Events at the Hobart Parks Department, explained that while this event is new for today’s teens, it was all the rage when she was a teenager.
“We did this back when I was a kid, probably 15 or 20 years ago,” she said. “This was a regular thing in the summer at the Hobart Pool. So we are kind of bringing it back a bit. Our primary goal is to find specific things just for that age group to get them engaged with the Parks Department.”
The Hobart Pool has been a favorite for local families, offering programming that appeals to parents with younger kids. Through exclusive events like the Pool Dance Party, local teenagers have the opportunity to take advantage of this public resource and have a lot of fun too.
“We’re trying to target a different age demographic,” Lopez said. “We do a lot of family friendly events, but what we’re missing is the middle school and high school age. So we decided to do something like this event.”
As expected, the event was a hit! One group of girls, including Laden Weinman, Jesse Neace, Kylee McDonald, Corinne Rodziewicz, Emily Foster, and Jennah Salinas, had a particularly great time. After seeing the event advertised on Instagram and hearing about the event from one of the girls’ moms, they all came out to swim, relax, and hang out.
“I invited all of them. My mom sent it to me and told me to invite a bunch of people,” said Rodziewicz. “The music is pretty good and the water is actually really warm.”
“I like it because there aren’t a bunch of little kids running around screaming,” laughed Weinman.
All festivities aside, this exclusive party also achieves another goal: it helps get teenagers involved with the Parks Department in a positive way.
“Our primary thing was to find specific things just for that age group to get them kind of engaged with the Parks Department so that they can take ownership of the parks,” Lopez said. “We are just looking to provide a variety of activities to provide positive experiences at the parks for them.”
To continue pursuing this goal, the Parks Department will be holding their regular Dive-in Movie Nights, featuring The Little Mermaid on June 29th and Free Willy on August 10th. All teenagers are invited to come out for a late night swim and the showing of these favorite movies on the big screen!
To learn more about the Hobart Parks Department and its programming, please visit their website here.
