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Belfast’s City Park pool has yet to open this year, and whether it will is up in the air.
The pool has been closed for maintenance and, as of Monday morning, Pam Salokangas of Belfast Parks & Recreation department said she didn’t know when it might open. She said the department “hopes it will be available for use for a few weeks before the end of the season.”
Without a known reopening date, poolgoers are left to find other ways to cool down during hot days, much to the chagrin of its frequent patrons throughout the summer months. At least a dozen would-be users of the pool stop by to inquire about the timeline of its finished repairs or just why it isn’t open, according to pool operator Carolyn Steeves, who is on-site daily for pool maintenance.
“We are making more progress in maintaining and upkeeping the pool, which is ultimately what we want for the longevity of it,” Steeves said.
Valerie Lecher, a Waldo resident with eight children aged 3 to 17, discovered the pool last year and found joy in getting to spend the day there.
“The kids were really into it,” Lecher said Monday.
But in venturing back this season, Lecher’s children were surprised to see the pool was drained and closed while undergoing repairs.
“They were pretty disappointed when they found there was no water,” Lecher said.
On July 8, the City Council unanimously voted to fix superficial damage to the pool, allowing for the renovations to move ahead, the Midcoast Villager reported. By June, the city reached an agreement with Affordable Pools of Hudson, New Hampshire, to take on the project.
“[Repairs include] having cracks [at the bottom of the pool] examined, filled, repaired, and patched,” Steeves said. “This is a 50-year-old pool with a 25-year-old filter system, so there’s a lot more that needs to be done to make sure that everything is staying up to code. Because it’s a 50-year-old pool, we’re pre-OSHA, pre-ADA compliances, so we really want to make sure that things are up to code and safe and here for all.”
In the 2024 summer season, water leaked out through cracks in the pool, according to Steeves. Now, a replacement part for the filtration system is the last repair needed to finish the job, and then the city needs to get a new license from the state to open the pool, she said.
“It’s out of our hands at this moment,” Steeves said. “We don’t have a date [for the opening].”
Officials anticipate it won’t be too much longer and hope to reopen the gates to the public before the end of the summer.
Rose Theurborn and her son, Oliver, live within walking distance of the pool and used it often last season. Theurborn has lived with her son in Belfast for three years, and recalls the pool having been “usually pretty full” in past summers.
“We used it a ton last year,” Theurborn said. “We’ve been waiting all summer, because we don’t have air conditioning … so [last season], we were there almost every day. We would literally be there right now if it was [open].”
