(upbeat music) - Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation is piloting the My County Rec Pass program for youth in 2024.

Here with us to tell all the details or share all the details is Communications and Public Relations Manager Callista Pearson.

Welcome.

- Yes, thank you.

And this is a free program, we want to make sure people know.

So it's a free pass for children from five to 18 for Salt Lake County residents.

And all they need to do is go to their local Salt Lake County Parks and Rec location and have a proof of ID and an adult with them so they can take their photo and get their pass and then it's good through next May.

- And tell me, what does the pass grant them access to?

- It will give them access to the open plunge time at our pools.

We have about 18 pools.

Half are indoor and half are outdoor.

And then open skate time at the ice rinks and then open climbing gym time and when we have the open gym time in the gymnasium so they can go in there and do basketball or whatever sport it is they want to do.

And then for the older kids, it allows them access to our weight room and our fitness rooms.

There's a certification program, so 14 year olds and up can use it.

And again, all children must be escorted by an adult, so at least someone 14 years or older.

- And it's a way to keep kids active throughout the summer.

Right?

- Yes.

It's a great way to keep kids active throughout the summer and that's why it's so exciting to launch it on June 1 when most of our outdoor pools are opening.

- Yeah, competing against kids playing video games and being on the screens all the time.

Why is it important for them to get out?

- You know, it's just so good for their mental health to have them outdoors.

Children should be spending three to four hours outside every day just because, you know, it helps them get tired, have fun, and it breaks them away from that singular thing on their phone.

So that way they're interacting with others.

- Yeah, and communicating face to face with other kids is building skills as well.

- [Callista] Exactly.

- Well, thank you so much for being here and thank you for telling us about this amazing program.

If you'd like to get more information about how you can sign up or where you need to go to get more information to sign up, you can go to slco.to/pass to check out how to register.

And the registration lasts through June 1st.

This is for the My County Rec Pass for the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation.

Thank you so much for joining us here at Contact.

I'm Liz Adeola.

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