As the first day of summer draws near and the temperature continues to rise, cities across Lincoln County open their pools.
The City of Stroud and Prague have opened their swimming pools. Chandler will keep their pool closed, but hopes to have their newly constructed Splash Pad open by the end of June.
The Stroud pool opened the day before Memorial day, Sunday, May 24.
Stroud City Manager Bob Pearman said there will be no extra curricular activities, but the pool is open with regular hours. Tuesday through Saturday the pool is open from 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. On Sunday, the pool is open from 1:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. and is closed all day on Monday.
“Maybe later on in the summer we may start doing parties and things like that,” he said.
Pearman said they haven’t had to limit the number of people entering the pool, but they are recommending attendees to social distance.
During a special city council meeting in March, the Stroud City council approved $66,764 to update the Stroud main pool and Kiddie pool.
Those updates included cutting and repairing gutters, laying tile, a light sand blast and paint, sealing cracks, fixing an expansion point, repairing leaks and cleaning rusted pipes.
“Everything that we wanted to get done got finished,” he said. “It looks really nice down there. We felt like we needed to open up for the kids and give them something to do.”
The Prague City Swimming Pool opened Monday, June 1.
Prague City Manager Jim Greff said they will be following the CDC guidelines and adhering to the social distancing recommendation.
The hours for the Prague Swimming pool are Monday through Saturday from 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and Sunday from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Chandler City Manager James Melson said he hopes the Chandler Splash pad will be open by the end of June.
“We’re still working on it,” he said. “There are some things we need to finish.”
Melson said construction on the splash pad is finished, but they still need to put up signs, lay down sod and finish the parking lot.
The estimated total cost of this project was $289,000. The city received a 50/50 percent grant from the Oklahoma State Department of Parks and Retraction for $145,000. The Chandler Lions raised $40,000 and the city paid $130,000.
Before the splash pad can open, Melson said the Oklahoma State Department of Parks and Rec. will have to come and finalize the pad.
The Lincoln County Health Department will also come out to determine the number of people who can be at the splash pad at one time.
“There’s going to be some social distancing,” he said.
Melson said the city added additional features to the splash pad like a fence and lighting.
Although the splash pad will be open, Melson said to stay on the safe side they will keep the pool closed.
“It’s still a little scary,” he said.
“I know everybody wants to open up, but nationally, we’re still having quite a few deaths and quite a few cases coming