REGINA - It was "everyone into the pool" at the official grand opening of the new Wascana Pool in Regina.
Immediately after Mayor Sandra Masters and Minister of Government Relations Don McMorris cut the ribbon on Thursday afternoon, students from Arcola Community School rushed past to jump into the pool, kicking off an afternoon of grand opening events at the location.
The pool has been significantly upgraded from what had been there before. Included in the finished design are a circular leisure pool, a lazy river, a lane pool and diving boards, a hot tub, a climbing wall and two waterslides. A playground and spray pad is also nearby. Highly touted are the accessibility features throughout the site and there are plans to add a lift in the coming years so those with disabilities can access the waterslides.
“You’ll find nothing like this in the province,” said Mayor Masters. “I’m not sure where you go across the country to find this park setting in the dead centre of your city, with these kinds of amenities which are, once that elevator is in, 100 per cent accessible. So many details to make it available and enjoyable for folks of all ages, all abilities. It’s a huge day.”
Masters said her own two granddaughters had “thoroughly enjoyed the pool” when they were there and added “that’s the seal of approval in my opinion.”
Wascana Pool was a $16.4 million renewal project which received $12 million through the provincial Municipal Economic Enhancement Program, the no-strings-attached grant provided to municipalities during COVID-19 to support local projects. The city of Regina contributed the other $4.4 million.
“The weather is just perfect. The facility is absolutely gorgeous,” said Minister of Government Relations Don McMorris at the grand opening. “I really want to commend the city of Regina for going through the planning, and realizing that the asset that they had here is in the jewel of our city, capital city, but to make sure that that is brand new and looks so so attractive.”
McMorris was dressed for the occasion in beach attire including sandals and a hat, and was being egged on by the camera people to jump into the pool. He responded he would do the gradual walk-in to the pool “up to my knees.”
Among those at the grand opening event was Larissa Kitchemonia, a Anishnaabe-Saulteaux artist from Key First Nation who designed the front entrance gate. She said she was inspired by the land on which Wascana Park sits.
“I think I was just more interested on the land that Wascana is on. There’s a lot of really nice things that happened here and I think it’s a great place for the community come together,” said Kitchemonia, who added it was an opportunity to “share that information about the importance of land and acknowledging we live on it — we’re not better or more important than it.”
The city has indicated there are plans to bury a time capsule on the pool site, with that happening before the fall.
Already, the new pool has been a big hit with users. In just its first week of operation, some 7,000 users have come through the gate to use the facility.
Pool hiccups in the first week
The launch of the new pool has not been without its hiccups. The new pool opened its doors for the first time on June 8, but promptly had to close down for the day, due to a bear spray incident in the change room area.
“We are continuing to monitor the security situation,“ said Bobbie Selinger, Manager of Community and Recreation Programs, who said there are state of the art security features at the pool; as well, two more security guards have been added since the incident. Selinger said safety is their top priority there.
More recently, another issue has emerged in the past week where kids would repeatedly hit a red emergency stop button that would end up shutting off the waterslides for extended periods of15 minutes or so every time it was pressed.
Masters said they are now working on a process where the waterslides would be back up and running sooner after that emergency button was pressed. As well, the plan now is to work towards putting in place some kind of barrier to safely discourage people from pressing the button.
