New Riordan Pool in Ottawa draws plenty of opening-day raves

It didn’t take long – less than a day – for the new Riordan Swimming Pool in Ottawa to draw a larger-than-expected crowd and get rave reviews from those very patrons.

After nearly a month’s worth of delays for equipment delivery, the $6.7 million, 9,700-square-foot pool opened for business at noon Monday and by 3 p.m. had more than 200 people enjoying warm temperatures, cool water and refreshing sunshine.

“I love it,” said Ottawa’s Molly Etscheid, who was sunbathing with friend Kassidy Collins. “It’s super clean. Soft seats, lots of kids, lots of areas to do things. I was expecting there to be a lot more people here the first day open. I think a lot of them stayed away thinking it would be too busy today, but it’s nice to have it kinda chill … It seems like everyone is having fun.”

While 7-year-old Myles Rainey and 4-year-old Arya Alonzo-Beenenga agreed they like the diving boards the best, Paul Beenenga and Chelsie Alonzo said they like the location best.

“It’s great. We live right across the street,” Beenenga said with a laugh. “We’ve been watching them working on this since we moved into our house last August. Cold days, rainy day, they were always working on it.”

“We’ve seen every step and it’s 100% we’ve been waiting for this,” said Alonzo, who frequented the old pool many times with her sister while growing up in Ottawa. “I like this. It’s much nicer. Definitely nicer. I particularly like the layout. The old pool has a kiddie pool, but it’s nicer that the kids have a place to play with more options than before. I like the (zero-entry) so the kids can get used to the water temperature more slowly.”

It’s new. It’s a long time coming. It’s been talked about for nearly two years, so I believe we’re going to have a very busy summer.”

—  Christy Ovanic, YMCA aquatics director and pool manager

The children’s grandmother, Lois Beenenga, said she was glad to see the pool has at least nine lifeguards on duty at all times (out of a rotating schedule of 29), and a special chair that can help disabled people be lowered into the water.

“I’m here mainly to watch (Arya), but there was no problem letting me just walk in because I wasn’t swimming,” Lois Beenenga said. “I’m from Tonica and we’ve been to the pools in Oglesby and sometimes Peru when (Paul) was growing up, but this pool has impressed me. Everyone is very nice.”

Grace Johnson, a resident of Lawton, Oklahoma who visited family in Ottawa every summer for years, said she misses the old Riordan Pool, but the new one is “pretty nice.”

“It feels like the old one was more open without the partitions between the areas,” Johnson said. “It makes it difficult to go from one to another, but that’s OK … I’m excited for the grassy area to be open. There we can be a little more out of the walkway. In any case, we’ll be spending a lot of time here this summer.”

“It’s an upgrade on the inside (of the shower/locker room building) for sure,” said her friend, Ottawa’s Ivy Cook. “The old one had a baby pool, but that’s for toddlers. I like that this one has an area for the little babies, too.”

The pool will be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $4, senior citizens $3 and children younger than 2 enter free. Season passes are available, as are reservations to rent the pool for a time.

YMCA Aquatics Director and pool manager Christy Ovanic, who will be assisted by Abby Mattes, said a grassy area for sunbathing on the south side of the pool is not open and is fenced off because the new sod recently laid in hasn’t yet taken hold, and that soon there will be some vending machines installed in the picnic area.

Until then, people are allowed to bring food and drink into the pool’s picnic area, but must remain there. Neither are allowed in the pool area.

Other than that, the new Riordan Pool is off to a great start.

“So far, so good,” Ovanic said. “It’s a bigger crowd than I expected for the first day. We were hoping for a quiet opening where we could kind of test things out for a few days before the larger crowds came in, but everything’s going pretty well … We’re picking up a few things we need to work on – for example, a few ladies have said we’ve run out of deck chairs – but that’s an easy fix and a good problem to have. We want this to be a nice, family-friendly place people of all ages can enjoy. Everyone’s excited to be here.

“It’s new. It’s a long time coming. It’s been talked about for nearly two years, so I believe we’re going to have a very busy summer.”