STOW, Ohio — For those living in Stow summertime will look a lot different now that a community staple will remain closed for yet another season.
When asked what he'd miss most about the pool being closed, one resident had this to say.
“The sound of laughter. Just to hear the kids play and the laughter I would say,” said James Waickman.
“I think growing up here, the pool meant summertime. You knew school was out when the pool started filling up,” said Waickman.
Now, all Waickman has are the memories he once cherished of the pool right next to his childhood home.
“Quite frankly, it’s depressing to look at now, so I like to hope that maybe someday this would reopen,” he said.
Board members told News 5 their decision to close didn’t come easy.
But without enough lifeguards and money coming in they say it’s pretty tough to maintain.
“Just a deficit of finances. We had a target goal in mind in terms of opening the pool, the finances to get us to what we need, and we just didn’t have enough members paid to get us to a point where we could open,” said Board of Trustees Member and Head of Maintenance, Patrick Schultz.
Schultz told News 5 that if they did unlock the gates the pool only could’ve been open for four weeks with the money they currently have collected.
“We don’t want to gamble with that money, and we don’t want kids running out of a place when it comes to swim team,” said Schultz.
Both Schultz and Mary Appleby are residents in the neighborhood, and they say they can’t help but feel sad too.
“It’s a very hard thing to see it when it’s closed. We love it when it’s open and all the fun that the kids have together,” said Board of Trustees Member and Publicity Chair, Mary Appleby.
Unfortunately, Stow isn’t the only community experiencing this problem.
Experts at Case Western Reserve University say communities across the nation are having trouble hiring lifeguards due to lack of training, pay and short-term international workers.
They also say the increase in private pools is also causing challenges.
“The idea that people can come back from university and be in that sort of true kind of summer job pool to guard our pools, to sort of watch over kids is just not happening, so maybe we need to think differently about this talent pool,” said Michael Goldberg, who’s an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management Design and Innovation.
At this time the board doesn’t know what the future holds.
But they’re hopeful since the pool has been a community staple for more than 60 years.
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