What’s the rush?
That’s what some parents and community advocates are wondering as the city prepares to shut down 30 wading pools Friday and another 30 the following Friday.
That will leave just six operated by the city open until Labour Day.
The wading pool at Happyland Park in St. Boniface will be closed as of Friday.
A community effort that raised more than $75,000 failed to convince the city to open Happyland’s outdoor swimming pool this summer. The aging facility was among the recreation sites identified for closure in the civic budget.
“We don’t have anything here,” said Teresa Cwik, president of the South St. Boniface Residents Association.
“They left the little pool (open) and I thought maybe the little kids can still have a place to go. But when you’re shutting it down mid-month, that’s ridiculous.”
She said there are few options for children to stay active and cool off in the largely industrial area.
“I see kids playing down by the river,” she said. “Are we waiting for an accident to happen there? I don’t know, but they have nowhere to go.”
The forecast for Winnipeg over the next two weeks is steady temperatures in the mid- to high 20s.
The wading pool at Happyland Park hasn’t been open on weekends, which is when many families are looking to cool off together, she said.
Only about half of the city-operated kiddie pools are open weekends, and some of them are closed Sundays.
“I think the mayor should be ashamed of himself for doing what he’s doing to our neighbourhood,” Cwik said.
Longtime community advocate Sel Burrows said many low-income families rely on wading pools to give their kids relief during the summer’s heat.
“It’s really quite selfish on the part of city council, because it doesn’t affect them or any of their families,” said Burrows.
No one from the city was made available for an interview on the timing of the closures.
In an email, city spokesperson Kalen Qually said the schedule for closing wading pools has been in place for more than a decade.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Just six wading pools operated by the city are set to remain open until Labour Day.
Usage tends to fall off as families start preparing for the upcoming school year and the temperature begins to cool, he said, adding that spray pads and some outdoor swimming pools remain open.
The city said it couldn’t provide statistics for wading pool usage.
I’d like to see our wading pools open as long as they can and as late into the season as possible,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said during an unrelated press conference Monday.
Gillingham said spray pads are a better option for the city, because they don’t need the supervision of lifeguards.
The city’s adopted 2024-2027 budget indicated the goal was to phase out wading pools across the city, gradually replacing them with spray pads; 20 kiddie pools will either be replaced or decommissioned by 2027, according to the city’s aquatic modernization plan. The city will be spending $20 million to build 10 new spray pads in that same time frame.
The spray pads will be built in Beryl Watts, Tyndall Park, South Winnipeg, Chalmers, Bruce Park, Winakwa, Norberry/Glenlee, Keenleyside Park, Tuxedo and Riverview neighbourhoods.
“Our summer months are very short,” Point Douglas Coun. Vivian Santos told the Free Press Monday.
“We love these outdoor amenities to stay cool, but we’re facing a (budgetary) balancing act.”
The majority of the new spray pads will be going to areas where a wading pool will be decommissioned, Santos said.
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca