As summer begins to draw to a close, there are several opportunities for kids activities worth noting offered by the Oneonta Family YMCA, the Oneonta Boys & Girls Club and the Community Arts Network of Oneonta.
The YMCA offers a wide variety of summer activities to keep kids active and engaged, including its aquatics program. The Y contracts with the city of Oneonta to run Briggs Pool in Wilber Park and offers swimming lessons.
The outdoor pool opened June 27. The season, which ends Aug. 16, may be extended a week with limited hours from Aug. 17-23 if enough lifeguards can be found, said Susan Kurkowski, the Y’s HR/operations leader.
Outdoor swimming lessons and a water safety class ended in July, but the pool is still available for open swim 1-5 p.m. and family swim 5-7 p.m. every day. This summer, 368 children attended swimming lessons, Kurkowski said.
“Last summer in 2025, we served 10,053 people,” she said.
Oneonta residents swim for free. Others pay a nominal fee.
“Most users are city of Oneonta residents, but we get a good number of non-city and visitors to the area as well,” she said.
All lifeguards are employed by the Oneonta Family YMCA.
“The Y employs around 25 young adults for the summer pool season,” Kurkowski said. There is a shortage of lifeguards across the country and Oneonta, too, she said.
The YMCA offered a six-week pre-school program for children ages 3-5 years old. which ends Friday, Aug. 14. It has served 56 pre-schoolers so far this summer, Kurkowski said.
Junior Firefighter
The Oneonta Family YMCA will offer its 16th annual Junior Firefighter Program 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. There is a $10 registration fee for this program. YMCA Executive Director Frank Russo started the program in 2008 in collaboration with the Oneonta Fire Department and other emergency service providers.
Russo is a retired city of Oneonta firefighter.
“It is his passion to continue teaching fire safety,” Kurkowski said. “The camp is about having fun, but the children do learn essential fire safety skills from real firefighters.”
Last year saw the largest group at 140 participants, Kurkowski said.
“This year we are expecting it to be the same,” she said.
Boys & Girls Club
The Oneonta Boys & Girls Club in the Sixth Ward offers nine weeks of day camps from June 29 to Aug. 29. Parents can purchase one week at a time for $125 per child per week, including lunch. Registration is open to children ages 6-12 years old.
There is a waiting list for all but Week 9; space is still available for the week of Aug. 24-28. The club can accommodate 100 children per week. Scholarships are available.
Summer camp is broken into six stations of activities per day. The club owns two vans and takes 15-16 campers at a time to the pool in Wilber Park on a daily basis if weather permits.
Campers also have the option of going to Hartwick College’s Pine Lake campus for a half-day each week to fish, hike, play outdoor games and enjoy hot dogs around a campfire.
“We try to get the kids outside as much as possible in the summer,” said Lane Potter, the new operations director for the club. Although Potter was hired in May, he is no stranger to the club. He won the Carl J. Delberta Award twice for his contributions to the club as a youth leader.
“The Boys & Girls Club summer program has been a favorite for my kids every year,” said Shelly Hingos, mother of three boys, ages 12, 10 and 8, and one girl, age 6, who just became eligible to attend. “They love the trips to Pine Lake and Wilber Pool, the STEM activities, sports, games and even the lunches.”
Hingos said that growing up in Bainbridge, there was no club offering after-school activities or summer day camp.
“As a working parent, I’m grateful they have a safe, fun and structured place to spend their summer while learning teamwork,” she said.
The summer camp includes a literacy program called IXL and the club owns iPads and virtual reality goggles for campers use. On Fridays when it is hot, the youth leaders set up a water tunnel and slip and slide to help kids cool off.
“As a working parent in the area, I am incredibly grateful for the Boys & Girls Club and the support they provide our family. Beyond after-school programs and summer camps, the club creates meaningful mentorship opportunities for children,” said Stephanie Hollander, mother of two.
“My son has built a special connection with a SUNY Oneonta student-athlete, and it has been wonderful to watch that relationship grow,” she said.
CANO
The CANO Summer Arts Program, designed for children ages 6-11, runs for 10 weeks, all summer. It began June 29 and ends Sept. 3. The Summer Visual Arts Program runs as a weekly program with a different theme each week, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. It costs $200 per week and includes all materials.
The last two sessions are full, but there is availability for Aug. 17-21. The focus is on individualized attention and self-exploration, therefore group sizes are small, said Hope Von Stengel, CANO executive director. The morning kids’ program can accommodate up to 13 students.
The weekly Summer Arts Workshops from 1 to 4 p.m. cost $150 per week. These teen workshops accept no more than 8 to 9 students, she said. To keep tuition prices low, discounts and scholarships are available through year-round fundraising.
“In 2026, we received grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Community Foundation of South Central New York with added support from Stewart’s and Walmart,” Von Stengel said.
“In 2025, we provided over $8,000 in scholarship funding,” she said. “So far, we have awarded almost $6,000 in scholarship funding, as well as thousands of dollars in discounts for those attending multiple teen workshops.”
Both the morning program and the afternoon workshops are held inside the CANO Arts Studio carriage house directly behind the Wilber mansion at 11 Ford Ave.