PORT ANGELES — A Halloween pumpkin swim resulted in a wildly joyful race for the gourd as youngsters swam to claim 120 pumpkins tossed into William Shore Memorial Pool on Sunday.
Small children who needed help from parents were given a two-minute head start before the 130 youth ringing the pool were allowed to jump in.
The pumpkins were cleaned before being set to float, and several were marked as winners.
The lucky youths who found those pumpkins received gift baskets filled with swim toys and Halloween goodies.
The eighth annual pumpkin swim is one of the most popular events at the pool each year, attracting hundreds of youth and many parents, said aquatics manager Christi Wojnowski.
“They’re still arriving,” she said, more than 10 minutes after the final pumpkin was claimed.
Those who missed claiming a pumpkin for themselves still had plenty of Halloween-themed games and activities to keep them busy.
A long line formed for the pumpkin toss, as youth threw a pumpkin as far as they could into a roped-off area of the pool.
Winners of the games received candy prizes, while a raffle offered more gift baskets and a few annual swim passes.
The pool hosts monthly activities, including movies in the pool and an Easter [plastic] egg swim in which children retrieve plastic eggs from the water, Wojnowski said.
The next event will be the “Pool Your Resources” swim Nov. 16, with entry fee a donation of a nonperishable food item for the Port Angeles Food Bank.
Unlike Sunday’s pumpkins, donated food bank items won’t be tossed in the pool.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
