One cool hot spot.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

If you have to deal with scorching mid-August heat, you might as well be a 7-year-old human cannonball tossed repeatedly into cool pool water by your 14-year-old uncle.

"I like it!" exclaimed Trent Goralewski, through nose plugs and while bobbing in the water next to Uncle Zack Selko at Edgewood Pool in south Eugene. "Because it's very, very, very fun."

And it was just the thing on a 97-degree day, the third straight day of 90-degree-plus temperatures in the Willamette Valley. Today's forecast by the National Weather Service in Portland calls for yet another day of sizzling heat in Lane County, with the high expected to hit 98. Sunday's forecast is 87, and some rain is even forecast for Monday.

While Thursday's high of 100 at the Eugene Airport was the hottest day of the year so far in Lane County, we are not expected to hit the century mark again anytime soon. However, the forecast today across the Portland area is temperatures between 100 and 105, said Charles Dalton of the National Weather Service in Portland.

"A really strong area of high pressure is sitting right on top of us," said Dalton, explaining the source of the heat that, of course, is pretty normal this time of year.

Also pretty normal is Trent and Uncle Zack and other members of their family at Edgewood Pool this time of year.

Tucked between homes in the 4400 and 4500 blocks of High and Mill streets, in the neighborhood west of Edgewood Elementary School and Spencer Butte Middle School, this oasis sits in a field dotted with picnic tables and surrounded by fences separating it from backyards. The pool has been a hidden gem since it was built in the '60s by Breeden Homes.

Back then, you automatically became a member when you bought a home in the neighborhood, said Kathy McArthur, secretary of the board that manages the nonprofit pool. Now to belong, it costs $165 per family annually. For years, there was a waiting list to join.

When McArthur and her family moved to the neighborhood in 1991, everyone said: "Get on the list, get on the list, get on the list!" McArthur said Friday, standing by the pool as Frank Sinatra's voice came from speakers by the small poolhouse. "We don't even have kids," she told neighbors at the time. Three children later, the McArthurs are glad they got their names on the waiting list that is no more, the remodeling and expansion of Amazon Pool in 2001 cutting into memberships.

The same year that her first child, daughter Anna, was born in 1994, the family finally got its membership after a three-year wait. The pool has a paid lifeguard on duty during swim hours.

With a maximum membership of 150, current membership is about 120 families, McArthur said. And although the board and the nonprofit association that run it would like to see it back to 150, smaller crowds at the pool are just fine with many members.

"A lot of people go to Amazon, but I don't know why," said Nancy Selko, Zack's mother and Trent's grandmother, as she sat with her daughter, Miryam Goralewski, Trent's mother. "I mean, look at this. This is the best pool in town."

Trent's older sister, Valentina, 9, was also splashing in the pool much of Friday afternoon, as were two more of Nancy Selko's grandchildren, Isabel, 11, and Isaac, 5.

Then came another launch - Trent laughing and giggling and flying through the air.

Ka-ploosh!

Melanie Glock drives her children, Julia, 8, Maisie, 7, and Tate, 3, across town from Bethel to swim at Edgewood Pool. Having moved to Eugene from Woodinville, Wash., the family wanted a smaller community pool, said Melanie Glock, hanging on to a goggles-wearing Tate in the water.

Edgewood fit the bill.

"Echo Hollow and Amazon are too big."

EDGEWOOD POOL

What: Neighborhood community swimming pool in south Eugene

Where: Enter off the 4500 block of Mill Street.

How much: Family memberships are $165 for the summer; half memberships and prorated memberships also available.

Contact: 485-4527