Make a splash at the Vashon Pool, now open for swimming

By Susan Riemer • January 9, 2018 1:30 am
The Vashon Pool enables swimmers to practice on starting blocks. The Seals Swim Team members got some time with them on Monday in their first practice back under the dome. (Susan Riemer/Staff Photo)
The Vashon Pool enables swimmers to practice on starting blocks. The Seals Swim Team members got some time with them on Monday in their first practice back under the dome. (Susan Riemer/Staff Photo)

After months of work from community members and Vashon Park District staff, the Vashon Pool opened on Monday for year-round swimming.

Vashon Park District’s Kelly Schmidt was there all day and said that the morning lap swim had a swimmer in each lane and that three families came in the afternoon for the open swim.

“They’re just thrilled,” she said about those who stopped by, adding that many people in the community have wanted a year-round public pool for years.

The Seals Swim Team came to practice and received some instructions about the new pool, including being mindful of its airlock and opening one door at a time.

With the water temperature in the low 80s, it is good for lap swimming, Schmidt said, but some young children were chilly earlier in the day. She said she hopes to adjust the temperature so it is comfortable for a broader range of people and activity levels.

The pool is opening with limited hours and offerings, but Schmidt said programming will grow as additional staff is in place. Swimming lessons are expected to begin in February. She encouraged islanders to consider becoming lifeguards — another class is planned for March — or to apply to work at the pool’s front desk.

“We need people to get involved,” she said.

The Vashon Pool was built in the 1970s and has showed its age in recent years, but considerable work has been done beyond the installation of the dome.

“I think people will be impressed the way the pool has been reinvented,” she said.

While Monday’s opening was a fairly low-key event, Schmidt said islanders should expect an open house and a come-to-the-pool event in the near future.

Current pool hours are 9 to 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays for lap swimming; noon to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and noon to 5 p.m. for open and lap swimming; and 5 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday for open and lap swimming. The pool will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

Daily admission to the pool is $7 general, $3.50 for seniors 65 and older, and free for children 3 and under. A variety of passes are also available at the pool and online, including 10- and 20-visit punch cards, which discount the cost of each swim, summer passes, and annual and late-season passes.