Children dive for Halloween in annual Pumpkin Plunge

Not all Halloween activities need to involve frightening ghosts and zombies. Some can just involve bobbing pumpkins in an indoor pool.

South Suburban Parks and Recreation held its annual Pumpkin Plunge on Saturday at the indoor pool at Buck Recreation Center in Littleton, giving kids between 3 and 12 an opportunity to dive into a sea of buoyant pumpkins, picking a few that they were then able to decorate with new friends and families.

The eccentric idea for the fall-related event came from both the love for aquatic activity and the realization the pumpkins do, in fact, float.

"Down here we have have trick-or-treating all over the place, but we really didn't have a Halloween-based aquatic thing," said Anne Harston, the district aquatics manager for South Suburban Parks and Recreation and the creator of the Pumpkin Plunge.

Harston, a former preschool teacher, is focused on getting kids both active and into the water at an early age.

"I'm really just excited about kids having fun with the water," she said. "That's one way that they're going to be excited about swimming and going to the pool. That's why I just work to do engaging and fun programs."

The Pumpkin Plunge started in 2021 and has grown exponentially, with families coming from all over the Denver metro to jump into the swirling pool filled with drifting pumpkins.

In 2022, 75 kids showed up to the free event. In 2023, the number jumped to 85. This year, there were 94 children with their family members.

"Every year they make friends out here. They always end up making friends with someone in the lazy river," Mindy Albert, a parent of a 10 year old and 6 year old who have been coming to the event since it started, said. "The challenge is always getting them out of the pool."

"I don't even think they've picked out their pumpkins yet," Teresa Osborne, a grandmother of three, said. "They're just swimming around and having fun."

Osborne's family runs deep with both swimming and the Littleton community.

Her daughter worked at the Buck Recreation Center as a lifeguard when she was a teenager. There, she met her husband. The whole family, through Osborne's entire life, haven't left the town.

Now, the daughter and the grandchildren are playing in the pool with a bunch of pumpkins.

"It's important to get them swimming at a young age. Mine have all done that," Osborne said.

That idea of introducing children to the water through fun events is the main point behind all of Harston's activities at the center, including a Thanksgiving breakfast swim where Harston cooks all of the pancakes herself.

"There tends to be with little kids that if they don't have that fun connection with the water, they grow that fear," Harston said. "If they get that fear, they don't want to do swimming lessons or go to friends' pool parties."

The community building is important, too.

Harston walked around the pool, shaking hands and sharing smiles with familiar faces and longtime swimmers.

"This is a community center. It's not just a rec center," Harston said. "We have some families that do it every year and have become super close friends. This is kind of my thank you to the public. I really believe in community and really believe in bringing them together. You never know who you or your kids are going to meet."

More activities can be found at SSPRD.org.