Families swimming at the new Lakeview Wading Pool in Lakeview Park on 18th Street in Vernon  Thursday, July 11 (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Outdoor Pool

Vernon’s new ‘Peanut Pool’ open and already being well used

Jul 11, 2024 | 1:00 PM

Vernon’s Peanut Pool has reopened following a multi-million dollar revitalization, and has already attracted some crowds.

The Lakeview Wading Pool officially reopened to the public on June 28, but a ribbon cutting ceremony was held on the morning of July 11 to mark the project and the amenity being available to the public once again.

The original wading pool was first opened to the public in 1958 and for more than six decades, it provided families with a place to cool off on hot summer days.

The new pool — which has a maximum depth of 1.3 metres (4 feet 3 inches) — includes an outline within the basin and around the deck indicating the layout of the original Peanut Pool, a “beach” or inclined entrance for people with accessibility issues to enter the water more easily, an accessible change room with a lift for wheelchair users, modern change rooms and washroom stalls that can be accessed both from the pool and from the park, and a spray park.

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A community celebration for the new pool is being held from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday (July 11).

Since welcoming the public, the new facility has already been well used.

“It has been packed, so busy that they had to limit numbers one day,” Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters following the ribbon cutting.

“People are here, people are excited and enjoying it. We’ve got lifeguard staff, we’re open all day, come and enjoy the pool.”

The city is not currently running swimming lessons out of the new pool, though some may be offered there in the future, but Cumming said it was still an important place for families to use so their kids could learn how to swim.

“Vernon is situated where we’ve got three lakes easily accessible, so water safety becomes very very important. Or it’s the Shuswap River or it’s Mara or Mabel Lake,” Cumming said.

“It’s common for us and our children to be in the water, so it’s critical that they learn water safety when they’re very young, and this pool provides an excellent spot to learn water safety. So that’s a critical thing for us, we want everyone to go home happy with smiles and have had a great time at the beach, but we need to make sure that everybody understands good water safety and early, early access to learning how to swim.”

The pool revitalization was over budget, coming in at $4.77-million dollars, well above the original estimate of $3.3-million.

Cumming told Vernon Matters that original estimate was made before the final designs were complete, and then adjustments had to be made such as the types of skimmers used, and other delays and complications drove that final figure up.

He noted the upcoming Active Living Centre project will not see these types of overages, as the design was finalized ahead of work beginning.

The project was supported by all levels of government. The City of Vernon provided over $2.84-million for the project, with more than $1.78-million coming from the Recreation Services Fund; the District of Coldstream added $340,000; Electoral Area B and Area C each provided $125,000; and the federal and provincial governments contributed a grant of $1.88-million through the Canada-British Columbia Investing in Canada Infrastructure.

“The original Peanut Pool has been cherished by the Vernon community for over 60 years, and has played a role in our revitalization efforts. I am ever so glad that our provincial government has funded over $1.1-million towards the new Lakeview Pool to continue the tradition of providing a place to cool off and a place to spend quality family time together,” Ella Fischer, constituency assistant to Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu, said on behalf of the local MLA and Anne Kang, Minister of Municipal Affairs at the ribbon cutting.

“The new Peanut Pool will help our community become a better place to live now and in the future. The upgrades we are celebrating today have been designed to prioritize both safety and accessibility. Now everyone can enjoy the water here and learn essential swimming skills that Vernon needs.”

The project was also supported by community groups. Vernon Minor Baseball donated $10,000 for a new storage room at the park, and the Vernon Lions Club added another $14,000 in support of the accessibility features, including the change room, an in-pool wheelchair, and a lift that had not been delivered in time for the ribbon cutting.

The support from the Lions Club pays homage to the efforts made by Bill MacKenzie, the founder of the Vernon chapter to open the original Peanut Pool in 1958.

“[When we were kids] there’d been suggestions of building a pool here [at Lakeview Park], mainly for the kids who couldn’t go to Kal Lake. There weren’t buses and scooters and all that stuff, and so the Vernon Lions Club got very involved in it, and of course they made sort of guarantees on money and you can’t get those through a non-profit organization so my dad decided to note for it, apparently,” Bobbe MacKenzie, daughter of the local chapter founder Bill MacKenzie, told members of the media.

“This is what we’ve been told, and we were told it scared the heck out of my mom because if it got called we wouldn’t have any money to feed us kids, so it was kind of a funny thing but it just kind of shows the involvement of the Lions Club.”

The new Lakeview Park Peanut Pool is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., though it is closed between 1:30 and 2 p.m. for cleaning, and admission is free.