EDGELEY, N.D. -- If children in Edgeley wanted to go for a swim this past summer, all their options required going to another town. The local park board even sent busloads of children to other towns to swim in their pools twice a week.
Next year that will all change with the opening of a community swimming pool.
"We feel it's important for the kids and the surrounding area," said Paula Diegel, member of the Edgeley Park Board. "It's something to bring people in."
The new pool will have a 100-foot water slide, swimming and diving areas and a zero-entry wading pool for younger children. The current bathhouse will also be remodeled as part of the project.
This pool, which will cost more than $1 million to build, will replace the older, constantly leaking pool that was more than 50 years old. Everything except the pool's paint job is expected to be completed before snow is on the ground.
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Its opening in June will also coincide with a community-wide 125th anniversary celebration.
"That was our goal, when things looked like they'd be a go, we set the goal for the 125th celebration," Diegel said.
The effort for the pool has been in motion for nearly the past decade. More recently the group Community Matters was formed and has been working for the past year to help the effort.
"If you want to attract and retain young families in town you have to have something like this -- an attraction," said Beth Andrys, a member of Community Matters.
Andrys said the community has mixed opinions with the new pool, but that the old one was in rough shape.
"It leaked so much that a garden hose was constantly pumping in water," she said.
Andrys herself took her children to Kulm, Oakes and LaMoure to swim this summer while the old pool was shut down.
She also hopes the new facility will bring some visitors to Edgeley and help stimulate the local economy.
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"I think it will help the town," Andrys said.
The project is being paid for with a 1 percent sales tax and fundraising. Community Matters has organized some fundraisers for the pool.
Right now the Park Board is looking for citizens to join the "100 Club" to help raise $50,000 for some of the project's amenities. People or businesses can join the club by making a $500 donation for the project.
Donation forms are available at Edgeley's City Hall or by contacting Melissa Entzi at 493-2064 or Diegel at 493-2439.
"It's going to be good for people looking to live here and great for those here now," Diegel said.
Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455 or by email at brodgers@jamestownsun.com
