ALEXANDRIA — The city pool will open this summer, and work is underway to repair damages that threatened to close the Beulah Park attraction.
Last week, Alexandria Mayor Jack Woods helped patch cracks in the concrete foundation of the pool to prepare for its brand new liner, purchased in part with dollars raised by the town’s citizens.
This week, a crew of workers is laying liner in the city pool, and will likely continue working until the end of the month, Woods said.
Led by the “pool ladies,” Vanessa Hosier, Penny Stevens and Sherry Brown, Alexandria residents pitched in thousands of dollars over the past three months to save the pool.
The city needed nearly $45,000 to install a liner at the pool in order to open this summer, and originally intended to close the pool, citing budget constraints.
With the cost of maintenance, staffing and necessary repairs, the pool may have cost the city $80,000 this summer alone, Woods said.
Choosing not to accept defeat, the pool ladies launched a fundraising campaign in Alexandria and found support from the town’s citizens.
The largest contribution to the “Save the Summer” fund, as the pool ladies called it, was an anonymous donation of $10,000.
The next largest contribution, Hosier said, came from Alexandria’s littlest citizens. “Our next step down has really been our children. We have probably raised around $5,000.”
A single donation from a student received by the pool ladies, Hosier said, came in a box with 16 cents and a note that said “Please save our pool.”
Woods said workers need three full weeks to install the liner before the pool can be filled.
Since the community came together to save the attraction, the mayor has announced that the first day it’s open this summer will be a free swim day for all. June 6 is expected to be the official grand opening of the new and improved Alexandria city pool, he said.
Pool lady Sherry Brown said she felt compelled to help save the pool because she grew up going to the city pool as a child. “The pool is such a part of our heritage.”
Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters @heraldbulletin.com
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