Kansas City area pools and spray parks are ready for summer. Here’s when they open
A year after the summer pool season ended before it started, the smell of sunscreen and the sound of children’s laughter will return to pools, water parks and spray pads at cities across the Kansas City area this Memorial Day.
This comes not only as a delight for water-loving sun seekers, but city officials across the region appear to be as excited to see the waves and splashes return.
“We’re excited about opening most of the pools,” said Doug Schroeder, an administrative officer with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. “The residents of the city were a little disappointed last year that the pools weren’t open. We’re excited that the COVID guidelines have been relaxed enough that we feel confident that we can open the pool safely.”
This year, the parks department will be opening its major pools and its two water parks.
“Last year, we only opened two of our pools, so we didn’t completely cancel the season,” he said. “That was the amount of pools that we were able to staff because of the limited availability of lifeguards.”
The pools that will open this year will be Budd Park Pool, Brush Creek Community Center Pool, Gorman Pool, Grove Pool, Line Creek Community Center Pool and Swope Park Pool.
The parks department will also open the Springs Aquatic Center and the Bay Water Park. The openings will be staggered, Schroeder said.
“After being down for a year, we’re having a little issue on getting some of the motors up and running,” he said.
Some pools — the Bay Water Park, Budd pool, Line Creek Community Center — open this weekend. There’s a possibility that Gorman pool will open this weekend also. If not, it will open by June 12.
The Springs Aquatic Center, which had cracking in the stairs leading to the lazy river repaired, should open by June 12 as well.
The Brush Creek Community Center Pool is expected to open later in the season because there are some leaking issues that need to be diagnosed and repaired. Swope pool has some concrete issues and it will need some repairs, so it will be later in the year before that pool opens.
Also vandalism over the weekend will prevent Grove pool from opening soon.
“Whoever broke in removed all of the flushing mechanism and the piping that goes with go with them to all the toilets and urinals,” Schroeder said. “They then proceeded to destroy the urinals and toilets, so everything has been damaged beyond repair. It’s all porcelain so its been completely cracked.”
Because most, if not all, of the fixtures are discontinued, they will need to be replaced, he said. It’s unknown how much it will cost to repair the damage.
“So it’s going to take some extensive repairs to get the bathhouse back operational,” he said. “So at this time, we don’t have an opening date.”
However, what Schroeder called the “fill-and-drain” pools — the smaller neighborhood pools that do not recirculate the water — will remain closed. The parks department is not confident it can open those safely yet until COVID-19 is a thing of the past.
Although the parks department is in a “good place” with its staffing, Schroeder said they need more lifeguards, front desk attendants and groundskeepers.
“We are still in need of employees,” he said. “We are by no means fully staffed.”
Anyone interested can contact Midwest Pool Management at 816-350-2628, which manages the pools for the city of Kansas City.
Johnson County pools
The summer pool season is already underway in Olathe, which opened Black Bob Bay this week. The city plans to open Mill Creek Pool and Oregon Trail Pool on May 29.
Many cities in Johnson County have announced their intentions to reopen at least some of their outdoor pools this year.
However, a shortage of staff, mainly lifeguards, could be an obstacle, The Star previously reported.
Olathe, for example, doesn’t plan to open Frontier Pool this season because of COVID-19’s impact on staffing. The city will notify the public if it determines that the pool can be operated safely.
As for Overland Park, “officials are hopeful that Stonegate Pool, Young’s Pool and Tomahawk Ridge Aquatic Center will open for the season starting Memorial Day weekend, depending on the public health situation at the time, and if there’s adequate staffing of fully trained lifeguards,” the city said in a news release.
The city will not open the Bluejacket and Marty pools this summer.
Here’s a sampling of what other large cities in Johnson County are deciding on their pool seasons:
Shawnee: The city plans to open both its facilities, Splash Cove and the Thomas A. Soetaert Aquatic Center, on May 29, but continues to hire and train staff members. If staffing becomes an issue, hours could be modified at Splash Cove.
Lenexa: The city plans to operate all three of its outdoor pools — Ad Astra, Flat Rock Creek and Indian Trails Aquatic Center — barring unforeseen maintenance or physical issues.
To reduce the chance of disease transmission, Lenexa will limit attendance to 50% capacity at each location, and visitors must bring their own chairs to sit on. Opening dates will be staggered: May 29 for Indian Trails, June 5 for Ad Astra and June 12 for Flat Rock Creek.
Prairie Village: The city plans to open its pool complex on May 29, with a limit of 400 guests at a given time. Deck chairs and lounges will be placed in pairs 6 feet apart from other chairs, with one pair for each party. Guests will be asked not to move the chairs, and are to come “swim ready” to reduce crowds in locker rooms and restrooms.
Leawood: The aquatic center at Leawood City Park will open on Memorial Day weekend, according to the city website.
Lee’s Summit and other metro pools
In Lee’s Summit, Summit Waves will open on Saturday, said Joe Snook, administrator of parks and recreation.
“We will be at full capacity and full operation,” he said. “Hopefully the weather will hold out for us. According to the weather people, it’s going to be a beautiful weekend so I’m hoping they’re correct.”
Summit Waves was one of the few pools that opened last year to a limited max capacity of 600 people at any one time. Normal capacity is about 2,500 people, Snook said.
Despite the limited capacity, Summit Waves sold 2,400 season passes for what was a shortened season. That compares to a typical summer of 1,200 to 1,400 passes. Discounted prices because of the shortened season might have played a part in the sales of season passes, Snook said.
“But I think really, at the end of the day, people were so cooped up — they hadn’t done anything since March,” Snook said. “I think people were just ready to get outside and do something besides go for a walk in the park or just the limited activities they had available.”
In addition to Summit Waves, the city will open its spray pads this weekend at Lea McKeighan Park, Miller J. Fields and Howard Park.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to have a very successful summer,” he said. “We’re looking forward to having large crowds.”
Here’s a sampling of what other large cities in the Kansas City metro are deciding on their pool seasons:
Independence: The Adventure Oasis Water Park at 2100 S. Hub Drive opens Saturday as well as the city’s Splash Pads in McCoy Park, U.S. 24 highway and North Delaware Street and Rotary Park, 24th and South Hardy Avenue.
Blue Springs: Also opening Saturday is the Spash Pad at Burrus Old Mill Park 112 NW Woods Chapel Road.
North Kansas City: The splash ground in Dagg Park, 2000 Iron Street, which was closed last year, reopens at 10 a.m. Saturday. The park’s splash ground will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Labor Day weekend — except Mondays when it opens at 1 p.m. to allow for maintenance, said Victoria Ressler, director of North Kansas City Parks & Recreation.
Liberty: The city plans to open the outdoor pool at the Liberty Community Center on Saturday. Last year, capacity for the indoor pool, which is open year round, and outdoor pool was limited. Unlike last year where staff provided wristbands and timed schedules, capacity for open swim in both the indoor and outdoor pools will not be limited. However, aquatic group exercise classes will be limited to 18.
The sprayground at Ruth Moore Park will also open on Saturday. The sprayground at City Park will be closed for renovation but the city anticipates it will open later this summer.
Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas: All three of the Wyandotte County Parks & Recreation spray parks will open for the summer on Saturday. The spray parks are located in Eisenhower Park, Pierson Park and Heathwood Park.
The Unified Government will not open the Parkwood Pool this season because the difficulty of recruiting lifeguards and other key staff when schools were closed and labor shortages.
