Orange City Council announced the perks on Tuesday as compensation for the facility’s “incredibly patient” patrons who have been denied access to the pools courtesy of a series of closures.

The toddlers’ pool was reopened this week after a month out of action for re-painting, while other repairs, upgrades and issues as varied as filter changes and vomit in the water have seen intermittent closures in recent months.

The free entry will apply on both Saturday and Sunday as a way to “thank the community for its continued support of the centre”, according to mayor Reg Kidd.

“The community has been incredibly patient with the Orange Aquatic Centre’s recent renovations to the toddler pool and several back-of-house upgrades, which at times have closed the centre,” Cr Kidd said.

“We want to say thank you and welcome to summer.”

Saturday and Sunday are predicted to live up to their billing as the start of summer, with weatherzone.com.au forecasting top temperatures of 25 and 27 degrees.

Council’s Sport and Recreation Chair Jason Hamling said the call to compensate season ticket holders with an extra two weeks’ validity on their passes was made to “acknowledge that inconvenience”.

“We know there has been some inconvenience for pass holders during times a pool has been closed for maintenance,” Cr Hamling said.

“Overall the community has been really supportive with recent events at the pool and everyone has shared the pool space well.”

He encouraged anyone who had not been to the centre before to visit this weekend and see the high-quality facilities firsthand.

“We’ve just upgraded both the female and male change rooms at a value of about $300,000 and they look fantastic,” Cr Hamling said.

“We’ll also have the dive pool open this weekend for several hours each day and we’ll have inflatable obstacle courses on top of the water,” he said.

“It’s a great facility and we’re lucky we have pools to swim in all-year round.”

Season pass holders must contact the centre to extend their pass.