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Silent disco and expanded swim lessons boosted participation in "Summer in San Gabriel" series
Summary
Recreation Supervisor Andy Shoop said the city's three‑night Summer in San Gabriel series drew strong attendance (one night ~125; another ~250), introduced a silent disco tailored for sensory sensitivity and grew swim‑lesson enrollment 46% to 695 participants after expanded staffing and recruitment.
Andy Shoop, recreation supervisor, told the Community Services Commission the city hosted three nights of the Summer in San Gabriel series this year, each night highlighting a different culture or theme and pairing performances and films appropriate to the evening.
“The first night, we had about a 125 people,” Shoop said, and the Latin American night drew about 250 people. He highlighted the series’ first silent disco — a sensory‑sensitive event with headphones and three playlists — as especially well received and noted staff aim to include additional accessible offerings going forward.
Shoop also reported improvements in aquatics programming after a focused offseason on recruitment and training. “We were able to grow our learn to swim... by 46%, which, brought us to the total of 695 participants,” he said. Staff added lap swim, expanded public swim days and launched an adaptive swim lesson pilot designed as a calmer environment with smaller class size.
Commissioners asked whether changes in registration cadence affected participation; Shoop said two registration dates (resident then nonresident) likely helped some but may have depressed later cycle enrollment. He recommended evaluating whether a single registration date would streamline access next season.
Shoop said staff will continue early recruitment and training to increase staffing and programming capacity for 2026.
