Cool, rainy start to outdoor pool season doesn’t deter swimmers

Bekah Keys, 6, left, takes a break to warm up while her mother, Lisa Keys, left, takes shelter under a towel during a light rain at Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center, 727 Ky. The pool opened Saturday and will remain open from 1 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. seven days a week for the rest of the season. Starting Tuesday, morning lap swimming will be available from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Monday through Friday through Aug. 24.

Playing at the Pool

Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center, 727 Ky., is open from 1 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. daily through Labor Day.

General admission is free for children ages 4 and younger, if accompanied by a paying adult, $1.75 per day for 5-12 year olds, $2.50 per day for 13-17 year olds, and $3.75 per day for those 18 and older.

Monthly passes are available for $16.

Lawrence swimming pool

When the White family showed up at the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center Saturday, it started raining.

“Oh no!” Stacey White said.

But her boys had been waiting for the public pool to reopen for the summer ever since it closed last year.

“We’d like it to be warmer,” White said. “But we’ll take it. It’s the first day, and we can’t miss it.”

It was a big opening day for 4-year-old Isaac. He was finally tall enough to go down the covered water slide this year.

He was so eager that at first he ran the wrong way. But after White had him take off his Crocs and hiked up his shorts, he turned around and ran the other way.

White followed closely behind.

“I’m going to be interested to see if he actually does it,” she said.

Isaac climbed the stairwell with his 6-year-old brother, Thomas, took a brief pause and was on his merry way.

“Oh, here he goes,” White said with excitement. “Let’s go, Isaac!”

He quickly realized the 82 degree water was on the cool side, but he never lost his smile.

“Yay!” White said. “Nice job.”

He shivered out of the pool and quickly headed back for seconds.

White laughed when the next person down the chute was her neighbor, David Carttar.

“For us, it’s become somewhat of a family tradition to be one of the first families to get in (each summer) and on Labor Day, one of the last ones to leave,” Carttar said.

A line began forming outside the pool about 15 minutes before Saturday’s opening.

“We’ve been waiting for this day to come,” said Judy Wiglesworth, who stood at the front of the line with Jeff Montgomery, a friend.

“We’ve been coming for years,” Montgomery said.

Despite an overcast sky and occasional rain showers, the regulars slathered on sunscreen and let the summer tradition begin.

“It’s cold,” Zach Beebe, 15, said after pouncing off the diving board. “You just kind of have to get used to it.”