Staff are recommending that the City of Edmonton continues to offer free swimming at its outdoor pools next summer. Attendance more than doubled over the previous year after the free program was brought in July 1 as a Canada 150 event.
Pool staff and lifeguards were surprised at the numbers.
“It was massive,” said city manager Linda Cochrane. “The kids came in the afternoon, but when mom and dad came home, they came as families, right after supper and didn’t stay long, but stayed.”
“They brought pajamas for the little ones to go home in and it was pretty impressive to see how well that program went.”
Deputy city manager Rob Smyth said they didn’t expect such a large uptake since the city already had a free swim program for low income earners. What made the difference he said was how many families went swimming on a regular basis for a short duration.
Cochrane said free swimming looks like it’s become part of the fabric that residents take advantage of in a city.
“Outdoor pools might be something like libraries that become a basic service for all Edmontonians and all families.”
Mayor Don Iveson is enthusiastic about the participation.
“My one caveat would be if you give something away for free and it becomes spectacularly successful do you have crowding issues? Do you have to then figure out to manage demand a little bit. Certainly the federal government found this with making the national parks free. It was awesome except that some of them were really over-run.”
Four pools were involved this past summer at Millcreek Ravine, Oliver Pool, Queen Elizabeth Pool and at Fred Broadstock. Next summer the city will add Borden Park to the mix.
Smyth expects the numbers to be even larger next summer than this past year, because the program wasn’t brought in until Canada Day.