Town of St. Marys celebrates pool reopening with sold-out public swim

Abel Brosens and Noah Hauser take the plunge into the new and improved Pyramid Recreation Centre pool during the aquatics centre’s grand reopening public swim Jan. 24. Galen Simmons photo

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Dozens of St. Marys and area residents turned out Saturday for a special public swim at the newly renovated Pyramid Recreation Centre (PRC) aquatics centre to celebrate the grand reopening of the pool after it was closed for more than a year.

With free cupcakes, balloons and swag bags courtesy of the town, as well as rubber ducks courtesy of Quadro Communications, the event showcased the nearly $2 million in renovations and upgrades undertaken by the town and its contractors since the pool was first closed in November 2024, a decision made to address the deterioration of equipment and infrastructure caused by an undersized HVAC unit and the use of saltwater instead of chlorine earlier in the pool’s lifespan.

“This is really exciting; I’m so glad we’re open after such a long time,” said Town of St. Marys director of community services Stephanie Ische, who oversaw the renovation project and handed out cupcakes at the grand reopening Saturday. “When you walk in, the ventilation definitely feels different in there. … If you were in there before, there just wasn’t as much airflow. But when you walk in now, there’s a definite temperature difference and you don’t notice the humidity.”

Ische said the new HVAC system includes a large ventilation duct above the pool, allowing for better airflow and humidity control, keeping condensation from clouding up the aquatics centre windows – just a few of the many improvements noticed by users since the pool officially reopened to the public at the end of December.

“We’ve had 100 per-cent positive feedback,” Ische said. “We’ve heard nothing negative, which has been fantastic. People are happy to get back in the pool, and that was one of our worries because we weren’t sure when we closed if people would come back quickly … but our numbers are higher now than they were when we closed.”

As one of the few indoor pools in the areas, Ische said both local and out-of-town users have been returning to St. Marys to swim for exercise and for leisure – a notion not lost on several St. Marys town councillors who were on hand Saturday to watch the pool fill up with happy swimmers.

“It’s a little bit of a sigh of relief,” deputy mayor Brogan Aylward said. “It’s nice to see the community coming out in full force upon our grand reopening now. It’s nice to know they still do love and value it as much as we do, and we’re willing to commit and put the time in to fix it right and make sure it’s ready to go.”

“I tell you, it’s pretty exciting to have the pool open and I’ve spoken even with people in Stratford who have been making their way to New Hamburg instead of St. Marys while the pool was closed for such a length of time, and they’re now coming back and excited and happy because they love the facility,” Coun. Fern Pridham added. “It’s great to see it open and refurbished and new.”

While the pool is once again a draw for folks across the region, town aquatics manager Andrea Slade said St. Marys is prioritizing locals when it comes to registration for swim lessons.

“It is amazing to welcome both returning patrons and new members of the community and surrounding areas back to the pool,” Slade said. “We have officially returned to full programming including Aquafit, Water Walking, Lane Swims, Open Swims, rentals, swimming lessons and leadership courses. We are currently in week three of a 10-week winter session. The next swim-lesson session begins the week of Monday, March 16. Residents are now given priority access for swim-lesson registration set for Monday, March 9, at 9 a.m. for residents and Tuesday, March 10, at 9 a.m. for non-residents.”

For more information on aquatics centre programming at the PRC, visit www.townofstmarys.com/recreation-community-culture/pyramid-recreation-centre/pool/.