At the tail end of the summer, long after its original opening date, the Wake Forest Park Aquatic Center will open this Saturday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and remarks by Mayor Vivian Jones and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall.
After that, its free hot dogs while they last and everyone in the pools – but no more than 300 children and adults at a time.
There will be free admission Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23, from 1 to 7:30 p.m. The center will then close for the winter and reopen on Memorial Day weekend next spring.
The center, which sits in a low spot with underground springs, was plagued all fall and winter with very wet weather, setting every construction completion date back while the ground dried.
The center was finally completed about a week ago. The $3.2-million facility has three bodies of water – a six-lane, 25-yard lap pool; two water slides with a plunge pool and a children’s pool with sprayground. There are cheerful permanent umbrellas with tables and chairs as well as lounge chairs around the perimeter.
The first Wake Forest pool with its stonework echoing the wall around the campus and its companion Community House were opened in 1942. Dr. Neville Isbell represented the Men’s Civic Club when he told the mayor and commissioners the club recommended the town build a swimming pool and Community House. The federal Works Progress Administration agreed to build them using men without work because of the Depression. The town paid $12,800 and the WPA paid $67,117.
There was no park then. It came later after the Dr. Sol Holding heirs and Zula Davis donated the land after the Holding house was razed.
The pool was totally renovated in 1978, making it Olympic size. There were changes and minor renovations in the years since then, but in the spring of 2016 inspectors found substantial damage in the walls, leading to the total deconstruction and new facility.
