Ladies and gentlemen, start your summer. More than 20 neighborhood pools across the East Valley make affordable places to while away hot days, and many go beyond basic lap pools to mimic the attractions at pricey water parks.

Learn to surf — sort of — at Rhodes Aquatic Center in Mesa.

Cardon Children's Medical Center and the City of Mesa will co-host Fit Kids Pool Day 10 a.m. to noon June 25 at the Rhodes Aquatic Complex, 1860 S. Longmore Road. Admission is free.

Two Mesa women - Marily Smith and Kathryn Melzer - love Mesa, so much so that they operate a blog called www.iheartmesa.com. Smith calls the blog "a labor of love to keep people informed about things to do in and around Mesa, to promote local businesses, and hopefully to bring people together and strengthen our community."

More than 20 parks-and-rec-managed facilities make an affordable place to while away hot days.

Mesa City Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh will host a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Rhodes Junior High School Aquatic Center, 1869 S. Longmore. The free event is open to residents of Council District 3.

Rhodes Pool in Mesa will offer free admission to dads on Father's Day and a discount on the FlowRider wave-generating machine. Dads can have all-day access to the FlowRider all day for $10 or $5 for one hour. For others, admission is $1.75 for children and $3.50 for adults. Rhodes Pool is at 1860 S. Longmore Road. Information: http://www.mesaaz.gov/FlowRider or (480) 644-RIDE.

A modified mailman's creed would be suitable for Mesa's grand opening Saturday of the newly renovated Rhodes pool: Neither rain, nor wind, nor gloom of a thunderstorm stayed swimmers from the free admission to the facility at 1860 S. Longmore.

The newly renovated Rhodes pool will be open Labor Day weekend with a ceremony Saturday featuring free swimming and a demonstration of a surfing machine.

Mesa is seeking input from residents to name a new wave feature at an aquatic complex in west Mesa.

The Mesa City Council grudgingly agreed Monday to approve a $6.4 million swimming pool reconstruction project at Rhodes Junior High School.

The Mesa City Council returns from its summer break this morning for a study session that will look into an additional $6.5 million in city pool reconstruction that officials say could help attract regional swim meets - and draw more local swimmers.