City Plans Party To Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Roswell Area Park Pool

Sign up for the Roswell Patch newsletter!

Residents are invited to join the city of Roswell later this month to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Roswell Area Park’s pool.

On Saturday, May 23, residents can “party like it’s 1975” during the event, which will also serve as opening day for the 2015 pool season, the city of Roswell said in its press release.

The family-friendly event will be held 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will feature games for all ages, music and prizes — and a very large cake. Another treat: entrance fees will be rolled back to their levels 40 years ago, ”50 cents for persons 18 years of age and under; $1.00 for adults.”

The pool’s common areas recently underwent a remodel, which includes renovated bathrooms with new appliances and fixtures, remodeled shower/dressing room areas, new tile flooring throughout, a new fence and all entrances have been remodeled and a new entrance has been added.

With just over 14,000 residents, Roswell was quite a different city in 1975. These were the days before the proliferation of the city’s swim-and-tennis community made pools easily accessible to most residents.

Craving a way to cool off during the sweltering summers while also coming together as a community, residents approved a bond referendum to build a city pool. But not just any pool: this project was a 50-meter Olympic size pool with 8 lap lanes, diving boards, children’s wading pool and concession stands.

The pool was the first recreation facility the city built, and served as a catalyst for the future development of Roswell’s award-winning recreation and parks program.

“Before the pool was built, Roswell Area Park had only two fields, and if you didn’t play baseball, you rarely stepped foot in the park,” said Morgan Rodgers, director of Roswell Recreation, Parks, Historic, and Cultural Affairs. “The pool brought the community together and set the bar very high so that every facility that came after had to be as excellent as the pool.”

Today, the pool hosts an estimated 20,000 people every year. Programs offered at the pool include aquatic exercise programs, youth and adult swim lessons, lap swimming, swim team, lifeguard training, aquatic camps and special events like “Dive-In Movies.”

Daily pool rates are regularly $3 for residents and $4.50 for non-residents. Children under age 2 are free. Season swim passes for families and individuals and youth swim tickets, which includes 10 visits, are also available.

Roswell Area Park is at 10495 Woodstock Road. To learn more about swim passes, classes, camps, and special events, visit www.roswellgov.com/summer2015.

Photo credits: city of Roswell