Cascade Bay report: private rentals, staffing and aging features shape summer operations

Mark Vaughn and commission staff reviewed Cascade Bay operations to the Eagan Advisory Park and Recreation Commission on Sept. 15, noting private-rental growth, summer attendance trends and ongoing maintenance needs for original features installed in 1999.

Vaughn described Cascade Bay’s scheduling model — four daily public sessions with morning and evening Cardio Bay classes — and said the pool hired about 185 seasonal staff (typically ages 15–20) who form the face of the facility during summer months. “These kids will try to stick with us for 4 years,” Vaughn said, noting that some seasonal employees advance into supervisory roles.

Private rentals expanded significantly this year, Vaughn said: staff sold nearly all available Friday and Saturday night blocks and estimate the rentals brought roughly 4,500 additional attendees to Cascade Bay. “We’re up to 13, I think, if not 14 when we’re all done. That people that brought in an extra 4,500 people we estimate to come to Cascade Bay because they wanna rent that privately,” Vaughn said.

Vaughn noted a year-over-year decline in total attendance (about 1,400 fewer visitors than the prior year) and cited 17 partial or full closure days due to weather this season. Despite those impacts, he said staff are monitoring usage to identify opportunities for new classes (including off-water yoga sessions) and additional turf programming when the indoor turf is installed in the Civic Arena’s east side.

On maintenance, Vaughn highlighted that many Cascade Bay features are original to the 1999 build. He said crews found a contractor in Ohio to refinish an original slide, completing the work in about a week after initial scheduling delays. “They were amazing. It took them a week to refinish that slide. They literally did with an airbrush,” Vaughn said. He noted challenges in finding specialty vendors and that the facility will need phased feature updates rather than exact one‑for‑one replacements.

Vaughn clarified swim lesson delivery: “We do offer swimming lessons, but we use a third party. Y swim school rents our facility from us.” The City rents pool space to third-party instructors rather than running swim lessons directly.

Staff said private rentals and group bookings remain a key revenue and outreach tool, and that data-driven scheduling helps identify times for new classes and capacity planning. Vaughn signaled staff will continue to monitor baseline attendance metrics to ensure operations meet expense targets.