The Redvers community now has a fully accessible renewed outdoor pool.
The Redvers and District Recreation Centre reopened the facility after major renovations in the middle of July, and now kids and adults can enjoy the cool waters throughout the hot summer days.
“It has been (quite busy). An average of about 30 kids a day, that’s good for a small community,” said recreation director Alicia Stewart.
It was a big process. They originally started with the main part and later continued with the toddlers’ pool.
“The toddlers’ pool gave us a lot of grief over the years. We had some water issues, and we couldn’t get the water to stabilize very well in there,” noted Stewart.
So they decided to take it right out and rebuild. They also added a zero-beach entry, so now, when all renovations are finished, the pool became completely accessible.
“We tided the entry into our main pool, so now it’s just one big body of water. It’s easy to maintain, and it looks great and it’s accessible for everybody,” said Stewart.
Besides main structural renovations, they also installed three spray features and three geysers on the bottom of the pool to make the facility even more attractive and exciting to use.
The opening was slightly delayed. The original date was slated to July 1, but they had to do some finishing touches, so they opened on July 19.
“We had a few snags early in the season, in spring. The frost took longer to come out of the ground ... so we couldn’t get the sides of the pool,” explained Stewart.
There also were a few minor complications, which added some cost to the original project.
“We did add some extra piping in a bigger pool, so that was an unforeseen expense. But in the long run, it really stayed close to what the budget was.”
The opening day was a success. And ever since the Recreation Centre has been receiving a lot of positive feedback on the renewed pool.
“The summer’s been really exciting to see all the kids enjoying the place and getting all the positive feedback from everybody,” said Stewart.
She noted that there are a few more “tweaks to make, but that won’t happen till after we close.”
Weather permitting the pool will be open until the middle of September. The public swim is offered on Mondays and Tuesdays from 1 p.m.-5p.m., Wednesdays at 1 p.m.-9 p.m., and Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 1p.m.-7p.m. They also have lessons every day from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Besides, they offer aquasize, lane swimming, senior swim and more. The daily schedule can be found at the Redvers and District Recreation Centre’s Facebook page.
