Spotlight: The Wayland Town Pool

Sparkling blue water, lounge chairs, shade awnings and beautiful sunshine. It sounds like a tropical paradise, right? As it turns out, all this and more is right in Wayland.

The opened its doors to the general public in April after about five months of being open for rental and official purposes only. Then, Memorial Day weekend, off came the bubble and the pool was quite literally open for the summer season.

But getting the pool to this point, and now operating it, has taken dedication, commitment, energy and even a doorwoman.

Achieving opening day

Cherry Karlson and Ben Downs, along with multiple other people, serve on the board of the Wayland Town Pool. For Karlson and Downs, becoming involved in redeveloping this town resource was a natural fit.

Both have children who used the former town pool and neither wanted to see the town lose a pool when the old facility became unfit to continue operating.

“They [her children] loved it,” Karlson said, adding that she would swim laps in the old pool after dropping her kids at soccer practice. “The didn’t want it to go away.”

Downs, likewise, has three children that are currently swimmers and a fourth who was until after high school.

And so they and the other board members worked to get a new pool up and running, including everything from fundraising to taking the matter before the Wayland Planning Board and seeking proper approvals.

Fundraising efforts have so far proved successful enough to generate all but $750,000 of the $2.5 million project. Karlson admits that fundraising has been on the backburner since the pool opened last November, but that is expected to ramp up again soon with events like the and others to work toward paying off that final bill.

After years of planning, fundraising and construction, the new Wayland Town Pool was at last ready for swimmers in November 2010. But there was a slight problem …

The pool’s builder miscalculated the amount of pressure inside the bubble when the pool was covered. Because of that, one of the doors from the pool building into the pool area itself wouldn’t remain closed on its own and had to be kept locked. Obviously, a locked door into a pool facility is a problem.

That seemingly small issue made it impossible to open the pool to the general public. So, determined to keep the pool open for swim meets and private rentals, Karlson became a doorwoman – monitoring the locked door to let people in and out during events.

She was even recognized for her useful "skill" at an awards ceremony.

Finally, a new louvered door arrived that corrected the pressure problem and at long last, the pool could open to the general public.

For the community

Part of getting this pool open and serving the public was tracking down the right manager for the job.

Karlson and Downs said they interviewed several candidates, but were easily convinced Matt DeChane was person for whom they'd been searching.

DeChane said he has been in the business of pools since 1990. When he interviewed for the Wayland job, DeChane was working at a Waltham health club, but looking for a change.

“This was an opportunity to get involved with something I’d always done,” DeChane said, explaining that the health club had a pool, but he was responsible for elements of the club well beyond the pool. 

Though he has worked around pools for many years, the Wayland Town Pool is DeChane’s first to launch from the ground up.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “Especially when you’ve been here a number of months and not really able to open.”

But DeChane had plenty to keep him busy. Responsible for the maintenance, programming and administrative elements of the pool, DeChane has been busy keeping everything afloat and making sure the pool is what the community needs it to be.

Already there are swim lessons, water aerobics, lap lanes, a Master Swim program and free swim taking place at the pool. Coming soon is a scuba class and likely collaboration with the new wellness program at Wayland High School.

And as these programs fill with participants, the staff is already in place to add more programs or additional sections of the already active programs, Karlson said.

“I’d love this pool to be thriving based on what the community is wanting,” she said. “We’re happy to hear suggestions.”

It took years of work, and, in truth the work continues, but Downs said it has been worth it.

“It’s available for any sort of aquatic activity,” he said, surveying the lap swimming, splashing kids and diving board jumpers all enjoying the pool at the same time on a warm, summery afternoon.

For more information about the Town Pool, including discounts on passes, check out the website.