Youngstown's only pool opens Wednesday

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Northside Pool, the city’s only public pool, will open Wednesday with a Family Fun in the Sun event.

The pool at 2160 Belmont Ave. will be open from 1 to 8 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays with Aug. 20 being the last day.

“We’re proud of this jewel we have in the community,” said Dawn Turnage, the city’s parks and recreation director.

Admission is $1 for those up to 17 years old and $2 for adults.

The pool is used by about 1,200 people a week, Turnage said.

For years, the city struggled with having enough lifeguards for the pool. The problem was so bad in 2017 that the pool’s opening was delayed by about three weeks because the city couldn’t find lifeguards to work there.

But a partnership with the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown that started last year solved that problem, Turnage said. The JCC provided lifeguard certification through a grant from the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation.

Six of the city pool’s eight lifeguards received their certification through the JCC, Turnage said.

For Wednesday’s pool opening, admission is 10 cents from 1 to 2 p.m., and is 50 cents and $1 the rest of the day.

The Family Fun in the Sun

event is from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday and features free food and drinks, a rock wall, a bounce house and information tables for various local agencies. The city also will honor former pool lifeguards at the event.

“We want to do something special for the community to open the pool,” Turnage said.

Also, the YMCA of Youngstown will offer 10 free swimming lessons for up to 50 people between age 5 and 18 at the Northside Pool.

The lessons are from noon to 12:45 p.m. July 22, 23, 29 and 30, and Aug. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20. Registration is required at the pool on either July 22 or 23 at 11:30 a.m.

The original Northside Pool opened in 1939 and was demolished in 2006. The new pool opened in late summer 2007.

It’s the only public pool left in the city. At one time, there were six public pools in the city.

Borts Pool on the city’s West Side was last used in 2008 but had to shut down a number of times during its final years of operation because of mechanical problems. It was filled with water in 2009 but never opened because of the city’s financial problems. It was demolished in 2014.