It was a great day to hit the pool in Portage la Prairie yesterday.

The Portage Regional Recreation Authority held a free public swim in honour of National Fitness Day at Splash Island and hundreds made the trip to cool off.

"It's fantastic to be open, and to have great weather for the opening weekend," says PRRA Recreation Manager Monica Chorney. "It's great to take advantage of National Fitness Day and offer the free swim, and a lot of people took advantage of it to see what Splash Island has to offer."

Julie Murray didn't let the wind stop her and her family from having a great day in the sun.

Julie Murray and her daughter Abigail coming out of one of the slides at Splash Island. (Photo by Aaron Wilgosh)

"It's nice to get the kids out to play, especially on a free day there are a lot of other kids to play with. We just moved back to Portage so it's really nice to be out and about. We've got my brother and his little guy here too, a real family day going on."

Danielle Choken had a great day with her daughter Violet. She was grateful for the free swim day and says she'll definitely be back this summer.