A pool for the whole community: Waverly Aquatic Center celebrates grand opening | By Sam Crisler – The Waverly News

Published: Jul 12, 2023

WAVERLY, Neb (The Waverly News) — July 4, 2023 in Waverly had the feel of a cinematic scene from a classic American summer movie. One that you make time to watch whenever it airs on TV, for its feel-good ending and its calls back to youth, and one that your kids end up loving as much as you do. 

The Waverly Aquatic Center’s grand opening was kind of like that, as hundreds of kids wore joy on their faces, and parents embraced the chance to join the fun. Young ones flooded the new pool’s waters, tested its fountaining features, waited their turn to ride one of the twisting slides and waded through the lazy river.

It was the falling action in a story that began five years ago, when members of the Greater Waverly Area Foundation Fund sent a survey to Waverly residents, asking what kinds of community projects they would support. They could have asked for something small, said GWAFF member and Waverly Aquatic Center Fund president Kris Bohac — like a dog park or a splash pad. 

Instead, GWAFF took the community’s feedback and dove into a $6.5 million project to replace Waverly’s worn-out municipal pool.

“Thinking back now, it seems pretty crazy. But yet, here we are,” Bohac said during a speech minutes before the pool’s ribbon cutting.

To get there, GWAFF joined forces with the Waverly City Council, which helped spearhead a $3.5 million bond that is being paid off with a voter-approved half-cent sales tax. Horizon Bank and Watts Electric received shoutouts at the grand opening for big early donations, while GWAFF took to grassroots fundraising with fun runs, disc golf tournaments and chili cookoffs. 

Income slowed to a trickle during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but momentum returned in 2022 with additional donations from the Lancaster County Commissioners and a matching program through Horizon Bank. 

Funds were enough that the city council put the project out for bids last September. In October, Kansas-based Carrothers Construction broke ground on the aquatic center in Wayne Park, dozing a ballfield to make room. They targeted a July 3, 2023 completion date. 

One day later, city, county and GWAFF officials cut a big, red ribbon. Kids made a big splash soon after during the Horizon Bank Money Dive, an event traditionally held at the Waverly Municipal Pool during the city’s Waverlyfest. Patrons were welcome to swim in the pool for free that afternoon until closing. 

GWAFF President and City Council President Abbey Pascoe said excitement was the predominant emotion she saw from parents and children on opening day. She talked with several parents whose kids grew up swimming at the municipal pool and wished they would have been able to experience the new aquatic center. 

“So, this is something they thought they needed a long time ago,” Pascoe said.

Other parents, like Brittany Sutton, can take her kids to the aquatic center today. She has six children between ages three and 15, and unlike the old pool — whose baby pool she said was often closed for repairs — the new pool gives them all something to enjoy. 

“Half my kids wanted to go, and the other half didn’t,” she said. “So I think this will be great.

”It’s a big step up for the people who work at the pool, too. Lifeguard Austin Neddenriep called the aquatic center a “big deal.” 

“We had that old pool for a really, really long time, and it’s nice to have a pool that works well,” he said. “This one will make things a lot easier.

”And the new pool also has the approval of the older generation. Pat Beeson said she was Waverly’s city clerk when the municipal pool was built in 1975. 

“This is considerably better,” she said.

Pascoe said the project’s completion reflects “the community’s willingness to come together for a common goal” and represents “the spirit of our community.” It’s the first time Pascoe can recall seeing Waverly organizations — public and private — pool their efforts for one cause of such a large scale. 

“When you see the culmination of five years of people working so hard on this project and really see it happen, and then see the community and their faces, that’s what it’s all about,” Pascoe said.

In one moment on grand-opening day, Pascoe said she was reminded of the goal GWAFF set out to achieve with the aquatic center — to provide a facility accessible to the whole city. The old pool couldn’t do that. She said she watched a boy who uses a wheelchair walk with a gait belt in the pool’s zero-entry section and take part in the pool’s grand opening with everyone else.

“That was when I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s why,’” Pascoe said. “He couldn’t do that in the other pool.

“When the chaos of hundreds of people swarming the pool began to calm, Pascoe took a dip with her sons. It could have been the denouement to the Waverly Aquatic Center’s story. 

“They said, ‘it’s the best.’ So I think we got their stamp of approval.”

A pool for the whole community: Waverly Aquatic Center celebrates grand opening