A friendly gesture of neighborly support took place in the Panther Valley-Tamaqua area during one of the hottest days of the year.

On Monday, some patrons of the closed Lansford Community Pool beat the heat in neighboring Tamaqua.The Howard D. Buehler Memorial Pool at Bungalow Park opened its gates to neighbors from Lansford, Coaldale, Summit Hill and Nesquehoning. Almost immediately, both the main pool and the children's pool were busy."We've already had quite a few," said manager Adrian Bumbulsky on a sweltering Monday afternoon in muggy, 90-degree heat.The Lansford Community Pool had been closed for minor repairs.In the meantime, the Tamaqua pool honored tags and passes for the Lansford pool free of charge.What this meant is that all residents of the towns and areas in the Panther Valley School District were able to use their passes to swim at Tamaqua.In fact, they were able to swim in Tamaqua even if they didn't have a Lansford pool pass. Those Panther Valley area residents without a pass to the Lansford pool were charged a $5 daily fee at Tamaqua, the same daily fee charged to a Tamaqua Area School District resident without a pass.The Tamaqua pool is large enough to handle the extra traffic from the Panther Valley towns.Workers said it was hard to gauge the impact. There was no count taken as to how many visitors came from the Panther Valley area. Crowds were strong all day, and with the weather calling for continued heat and humidity, workers expect a busy week."I think it would've been crowded here either way," Bumbulsky said.