By:Kristy Klaus
The cannonball splashes could be heard from the parking lot and the bikes were lined up just inside the gate of the Cranbury Swim Club.
Parents were soaking up sun and catching up on their reading as their kids asked “Who touched first?” after a race across the pool.
“Mom, Look!” 8-year-old Ashley Tanzer yelled, as a stereo provided a backdrop of pop music. Her mom, Linda, was sitting comfortably in the shade before Ashley bellowed for her to look at her handstand in the pool.
“She likes it when her friends are here,” said Ms. Tanzer. “If not, I get pestered.”
Ms. Tanzer doesn’t mind though, and eventually she came out of the shade and pulled her chair up to the edge of the water to keep Ashley company.
Over at the intermediate pool, 2-year-old Alex Gutierrez played on the steps with his plastic rhinoceros and elephant. He put the animals under water and brought them back up so he could make bubbles.
“He has no fear of water,” said Christina Gutierrez, Alex’s mom. “He took lessons at the Y.”
Ruth Jost’s 2-year-old and 6-year-old came out of the water and grabbed the juice box and snack that their mom had packed in their cooler.
The boys created a towel tent by hanging a towel in between two chairs and climbed inside to enjoy their snack.
“We come here almost every day,” said Ms. Jost. “It’s a good way to entertain the kids.”
Retired Chemists Dorothy and Donald Denney come to the pool for an hour or so each day to read and take a dip in the pool.
“I like it because I don’t have to clean it,” said Mr. Denney.
The Denneys said they like to just float around and as the lifeguard’s whistle blew, signaling adult swim time, the Denneys took off to enjoy a few minutes without any kids in the pool.
Michelle Wright and her dad, George, sat wrapped in towels, letting the sun dry them off after a trip down the slide.
Ms. Wright said she still remembers coming to the swim club when she was a teen-ager and spending hours playing cards and Scrabble under the trees.
“If I didn’t get up early enough to go to the beach I’d come here,” said Ms. Wright.
The swim club is still the cool place for kids to be and Whitney Brunner is known by the lifeguards as the “hang-out queen.”
She comes to the pool for swim team practice in the morning and spends the rest of the day.
“People come and go, so I see people and hang out,” said Whitney.
The lifeguards, who were on break, sat under an umbrella of a picnic table to eat their lunch.
Most of them were once members themselves and said it wouldn’t be summer unless they were at the pool.
“We grew up with summers here,” said Brian Lalli, as another lifeguard relayed a message to him over his walkie-talkie.
Brian’s brother, Chris, joked they “get paid to get a tan,” but said he loves the job.
“We know everyone’s name since it’s a small town,” said Chris.
Joe Patti, from Junction Caterers, runs the club’s snack bar.
“It’s enjoyable because I am a chef by trade,” said Mr. Patti, who spends his winters serving 400 to 500 people a day at Rutgers Prep School. “It’s not high pressure so it’s a good summer job.”
Mr. Patti serves a lot of grilled cheese, pizza, chicken salads, funnel cake, nachos and, of course, ice cream.
“A lot of ice cream,” said Mr. Patti. “A lot, a lot of ice cream.”
Kids and parents eat the classics like screwballs, Italian water ices and bubble gum swirls.
Luke Brunskill and Charlotte Babcock, both 10 years old, licked vanilla ice cream out of their ice cream sandwiches before they jumped back in the pool.
Three-year-old Colin Buckley had his blue and green goggles strapped on so he could see under water, and when asked if he’d rather be at home or at the pool Colin spoke for all those who spend a day at the Cranbury Swim Club.
“At the pool,” Colin said.
