One by one many Pickerington pool-goers found themselves in an empty parking lot Wednesday asking the same question.
“Oh man, what’s going on here,” Brooke Casto said.
With temperatures in the 90s for more than a week, Casto brought a car full of family members to the Pickerington Community Pool only to find out it was closed.
“We were looking to jump in the pool on this hot, hot day,” she said.
The City of Pickerington announced on Facebook Tuesday evening the pool would be closed due to “staffing issues.” Swim team and swim lessons were also canceled.
In an update Wednesday, the city wrote:
"Until further notice the Pickerington Community Pool will be open to season pass holders only. We will still hold swim lessons and swim team practice, but will not sell daily passes. This change was necessitated by staffing challenges in combination with the safety of our employees and patrons. We are continuing to evaluate the situation and will update with any new information as it becomes available."
“Business has been very good the last 10 days,” Caitlyn Heimerl said.
Up the road in Pataskala, The Dairy Hut owner, Caitlyn Heimerl, is serving up a full staff of 18 employees.
“We’ve been blessed to have a great team,” she said. “Staffing, thank the Lord above, has not been an issue for us.”
A couple of her workers, she says, are from other local businesses that couldn’t stay open because of a lack of workers. Word of mouth for the ice cream shop is already gaining interest with other applicants.
“We actually have five [high school] seniors on staff,” she said. “So, as they transition and go to college here later this August, we’ll have to backfill those positions.”
Heimerl knows she’s lucky knowing right now many businesses continue to struggle to stay open.
“I hope that people are willing to come back to work and get hired at places that need help and are able to open back up,” Casto said.