I don’t remember the opening day of Park Valley Pool but I can imagine that moving from an outdoor pool to an indoor facility was a seismic event for our community. The same is true with the opening of the Ricochet Oil Corp. Aquatic Centre.
Park Valley Pool opened its doors in 1983, with a price tag of $1 million. This was a hefty sum at the time especially for a community that was struggling to balance its budget. But the council of the day saw the need for an indoor facility and found a way to make it happen.
If ever there was a local facility that has been stretched and used to the absolute maximum, Park Valley Pool would be it.
As young swimmers my brother and I and many others of my generation were members of the Drayton Valley Neptunes Swim Club. We would spend full summers at “the pool”. At its height the club had something in the neighbourhood of 120 members. Swim practices were a sea of legs, and flailing arms with swimmers jockeying one another to be leader. At times we had 10-12 people to a lane. It didn’t take long for you to get to know your teammates; feet touches, hand slaps and accidental leg and side kicks were all part of the parcel of a typical practice.
The chaos that was a swim practice didn’t even come close to some of the leisure swims that the staff had held at the pool; bubble swims, glow stick swims, snowball swims, video dance and penny dives are just a few of the draws that brought hundreds of kids and families through the doors. I remember one Family Day we came to the pool and literally they were at capacity. It was like a city bar scene where people were waiting in line to get in. What the pool didn’t have in amenities the staff made up for in creative programs.
In the early 2000s the Drayton Valley Paddle Club started gaining steam and so did the interest in kayaking. Soon kayak lessons were offered at the pool. The same thing happened with waterpolo, synchronized swimming, winter swim club, and Junior LifeGuard Club. Aquacise extended into arthritic aquacise as more seniors started to head to the pool.
Along with the enthusiasm of the Park Valley Pool staff; parent volunteers, and coaches who supported the start up and the administration of aquatic clubs also played a big part in cultivating a continued love of water in this community. These were never easy board roles to fill and as interests changed and kids grew up parents moved on and clubs closed their doors. This process was part of how the pool continued to grow, and reinvent itself these past 39 years.
Park Valley Pool had an intended life span of 30 years and it was at year 24 that a small group of us met in the livingroom of Fayrell Wheeler’s residence to discuss how to go about bringing a new pool to the community. These people were lane swimmers, lifeguards, aquasizers and general pool users. They were people who had kids that were swimmers and they themselves had a passion for the pool. That meeting turned into a larger community meeting, which became a petition, then a sub-committee and multiple discussions and feasibility studies and presentations to both councils would follow. As the process continued other communities were undergoing their own upgrades as they had similar facilities with similar problems. Not only were we seeing that our pool envelope needed repairs, regulation changes started to affect competitions, and general usage of amenities like the diving board, and the slide.
Park Valley Pool with its wind surfers mural, and tarzan rope and ever changing ceiling decor (remember the hang gliders?) was coming to the end of its days as “the pool”. As one of those people who sat at those first meetings in the early discussions about a new facility, I’m excited that we finally have a new pool. But I was surprised to find the transition from the Park Valley Pool to the Ricochet Oil Corp. Aquatic Centre was a sad one. As the final swim at the pool came to a close and the parking lot outside remains empty I see that a chapter in the community, and in my life, has come to a close. Those memories of swim club, waterpolo, coaching, lifeguarding, my kids’ first swim lessons, parent and tot swims, and family swims are safely stored away in my memory bank. Meanwhile a new chapter has opened for my children who will grow up to call the Ricochet Aquatic Centre “the pool”. I hope it brings them as many memories as Park Valley Pool brought me.
