Record number of visitors at new pool in Jasper during first season

The city of Jasper closed the first season of its new pool by breaking a 51-year-old attendance record. Between Memorial Day weekend and the middle of August, more than 32,000 people visited the Dubois County facility, crushing the previous record of 23,000 attendees set in 1974.

“This has drawn a lot of people into town. We keep it affordable. We’re about quality of life,” said Tom Moorman, parks and recreation director.

The new pool, funded by the city’s Central Tax Increment Finance district, replaced the structure on Bartley Street that was nearly 70 years old.

“We’ve had some leaking issues with the old pool, losing four to eight inches of water a day,” Moorman said. “That’s roughly 40,000 gallons of water a day. You have to replace that water, then you have to treat that water. It was a big financial drain.”

Mayor Dean Vonderheide praised the parks and recreation department, saying the group was determined to deliver more than had been promised with the new pool. The city worked with Evansville-based Hafer Design on the $9.2 million project.

“Hafer worked well with us in designing the pool to meet our defined needs. Remaining focused on delivering a quality product on time allowed us to experience a full season and make recommendations for the future,” said Vonderheide in an email.

Aging infrastructure

Built in 1957, the old Jasper pool was 50 meters long and held 650,000 gallons of water. Moorman said since the average lifespan of a pool is 25 years, the facility was way past its prime. Besides leaking, a lack of amenities was another issue with the old structure.

“Basically, you had a great big body of water with one [slide] at one end and two [diving boards] on the other,” said Moorman. “The last year we were open, our slide died on us. When you lose one of your couple of features that you have, that’s an issue.”

Moorman said the idea of building a new pool has been floating around for several years. However, other projects kept bumping the initiative to the back burner.

“We were talking about doing this in a different location, and at the same time, The Parklands got brought up, which is a 75-acre park,” Moorman said. “That was realized and created, and the pool got set aside again.”

Official planning for the new pool started two years ago, with the old pool being shut down at the end of the 2023 season so construction could begin in 2024. Vonderheide said the contractors and staff worked hard to get the new pool open by Memorial Day weekend this year, even though high temperatures were only in the low 70s at that time.

“That didn’t deter the public from the excitement of being some of the first to experience all the features,” Vonderheide wrote in an email. “The swimmers were in awe and very complimentary.” 

New pool amenities

The new Jasper Municipal Swimming Pool is 25 yards long and holds 330,000 gallons of water. Amenities include zero-depth entry, splash area, ninja course, current loop and three slides.

“The blue one is exceptionally fast. I can tell you from personal experience,” Moorman said. “The red one is fast enough, and the yellow one is great for smaller kids.”

Moorman said the new pool was intentionally designed to allow more people to get in the space and enjoy the water.

“The old pool, 50 meters, you had people on one end with the slide, people on the other end with the boards. Nobody was in the middle of it. You had a big gap of water that was never used,” he said. “Every square inch of [the new pool] is being utilized. We like to say it’s inclusive from an age standpoint. You’ve got toddlers all the way up to seniors. We had water aerobics a few times a week, but teenagers, every age group loves it.”

Though the pool has hosted annual swim meets for the Jasper Aquatic Wildcats in the past, Moorman said the focus of the facility continues to be fun and relaxation.

“I’ve gone at this with the mindset of we are parks and recreation, not parks and competition. The schools do a great job of keeping swim teams and all of that satisfied,” said Moorman. “But we did put the 3-meter [diving] board and platform and the 1-meter diving board in to help with some of that.”

‘Draws people to Jasper’

Vonderheide said the new Jasper pool is an asset to the community, providing recreation at a reasonable cost of $5 per person.

“My greatest surprise was how this new facility with its many features would draw people regionally. We had busloads of swimmers from 45 minutes away show up to share in the experience,” he said in an email. “[The pool] draws people to Jasper who will eventually spend other discretionary money at our retail stores, restaurants, etc.”

Vonderheide believes the new pool will also attract people considering relocation to the Midwest.

“We are constantly recruiting talent to the local businesses, and this serves as another reason for young families to consider moving to Jasper,” he wrote.

With Memorial Day weekend about nine months away, the city plans to prepare the pool for next year by doing a debrief on the debut season and addressing challenges such as securing lifeguards for the entire summer.

“You get closer to the start of school, and you get kids going back to school. You’ve got college students going back to college, and people aren’t as open to working every day,” said Moorman. 

“Now that we’ve closed for the year, we will go through the project punch list and make any corrections to the facility that are needed,” Vonderheide added.

Hafer is also working with the Mt. Vernon Parks and Recreation Department to build a new pool in Posey County. The town is asking for community input and support to attract corporate sponsors as well as federal and state grants.