Chicago Park District announces extended pool operations through Labor Day

CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Park District announced Thursday that it will keep a collection of pools and beaches open until Labor Day this year as part of a phased end-of-summer pool plan.

“We work to balance the needs of our residents and young workforce because both our 26-miles of lakefront and our neighborhood pools are vital to safeguarding our residents from the heat this summer,” Chicago Park District Superintendent and CEO Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said. “By ensuring access to swim opportunities during the summer, we are providing an essential service to some of our vulnerable communities most susceptible to extreme heat.”

Starting Aug. 10, the park district will close 15 indoor and outdoor pools around the city. One week later on Aug. 17—the day before the first day of Chicago Public School’s academic year—an additional 42 indoor and outdoor pools around the city will close for maintenance.

After that, the park district plans to keep Chicago’s 22 beaches, 19 neighborhood pools, and one inland beach open through Labor Day.

Staggered summer schedule for pools and beaches:

• Aug. 10: 15 indoor and outdoor pools located citywide will close for the season as young workforce begin to return to school;
• Aug. 17: Prior to the first day of CPS academic year, an additional 42 indoor and outdoor pools located citywide will close for the season to provide necessary maintenance for pools and prepare staff for Fall programming session;
• Sept. 1: Chicago’s 22 beaches, 19 neighborhood pools, and one inland beach to remain open through Labor Day;
• Sept. 2: All indoor pools will reopen for open swim and lap swim; pending outstanding maintenance needs, and upgrades as part of capital improvement projects;
• Sept. 15: Fall aquatics programming begins;
• Sept. 30: Water spray features to close for the season by the end of the month, pending maintenance needs.

The decision to keep a select number of pools open came alongside the decision by the park district to consider Chicago’s Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) for the first time in their phased end-of-summer pool plan this year.

The HVI functions as a mechanism to identify areas within the city with high heat risk. This, along with taking pool capacity, proximity of pools to one another, and pool maintenance needs into consideration, allowed the park district to identify which pools were the best to keep open through Labor Day, according to city officials.

City officials said the 19 neighborhood pools selected to stay open through the end of the season are some of the park district’s best able to accommodate a large volume of patrons at any given time in areas with a higher vulnerability to heat.

The variety of features, such as water slides, pool depth range and ADA accessibility, also allows for pool users of all ages and abilities to safely use the facilities through Labor Day.

Pool schedules of the extended summer pool season are posted on the Park District website at chicagoparkdistrict.com/swimming-pools.

The proposed schedule is dependent on current staff availability, and is subject to adjustment as lifeguards change availability. All modifications to pool schedules will be reflected on the pool schedules posted at the park and on the Chicago Park District’s website.