The Sand Springs pool opened on Monday after a successful grass-roots effort to purchase the historic landmark as a community recreation center.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — It took a community effort to raise the money that bought the historic Sand Springs Pool this summer.

 

It took another community effort to raise the water level and make Monday's opening day a reality.

 

"The biggest hurdle to operating was getting the pool filled," Sand Springs Recreational Center President Janette Kessler Dudley said on Wednesday afternoon. "It's so late in the season that the water tables are really low, so we were having a lot of trouble getting the pool to fill at its typical rate."

 

Normally, the pool would have been filled in the spring. But the SSRC purchased the property on the north end of Williamstown on July 15 after successfully raising more than $550,000 with the help of 305 different individuals, businesses and foundations.

 

The fund-raising effort took a little more than a year from the date the SSRC announced its intention to purchase the pool from Redstone Properties.

 

When they closed on the pool, everything was in mint condition, Dudley said. The former owners updated the pool house after they bought it from the George family in 2003 and did a fine job of upkeep.

 

The only thing the facility lacked was water.

 

"We talked to (Williamstown Public Works Director) Tim Kaiser, and he suggested we talk to Sand Springs Water Co., which is right up the hill, and see if the Morin family would be willing to sell us water," Dudley said. "I called up and spoke with Jennifer Morin, and she said when they turn the bottling equipment off at 3, we could have as much water as we wanted because they just let it run off into the stream.

 

"Then (SSRC interim Executive Director) Jane Patton went over to the Fire Department and talked to Chief (Craig) Pedercini, and he jumped right on it and figured out how to hook up fire hoses to the spring water company. And by Friday evening at 6 — having started this conversation at 9 a.m. that day — we had water coming into the pool at a really rapid rate.

 

"So it was really a wonderful group effort, starting with the great suggestion by Tim Kaiser to the generosity of the Morins to the willingness of the Fire Department to sort of drop everything and help us out. We were just thrilled how much people were willing to help us."

 

By Monday, the pool was filled with happy families from throughout the area. Many were members (rates range from $125 for one to $650 for a family of six or more), but the pool offers weekly, two-week and daily options as well ($10 per adult, $8 for a child, $5 for children under 5 for one day).

 

Mary Shine was enjoying the pool with her family on Wednesday afternoon. She said she used to visit the pool all the time before it closed for the 2011 season (it opened just briefly last summer), and she was happy to see the option return for good this year.

 

"There's not a lot for kids to do in the area," Shine said. "It's great to be able to come and play and relax. So much of kids' summers these days are planned and structured."

 

Emily Gamble also was glad to see the pool reopen this summer.

 

The Williamstown resident's family sold the pool to the new center and is helping with transition this summer. Her grandfather Rudy Gagliardi is helping the new owners get the hang of the mechanical operation, and Gamble is helping out in the kitchen, serving up nachos, sandwiches, drinks and frozen treats until she leaves for college in Colorado in a couple of weeks.

 

"I think when I was 14, I started coming in to work," Gamble said. "The lifeguards are one big change this summer. We had signs saying, 'No lifeguard on duty.' We were all CPR certified, but we had signs saying 'Swim at your own risk.' "

 

The pool has a staff of about 10 with the majority being the lifeguard corps, Dudley said. Sand Springs trained a couple of lifeguards, but most came to the pool with previous experience.

 

The training was done by Williams College assistant swimming coach Nick Stone — another piece of the community effort helping to make the pool and community gathering place a reality. Longtime Williams head swimming coach Carl Samuelson is overseeing the Samuelson Swim Academy at Sand Springs, and lessons are expected to start soon, Dudley reported.

 

Besides those lessons — and the lifeguards — the new owners have not made too many alterations to the operation ... yet. Down the road, the SSRC hopes to reorganize the first floor of the pool house, consolidating the fitness equipment into one room and opening up the indoor lounging and recreation area.

 

So far, the community has embraced the new Sand Springs.

 

"The first day was phenomenal," Dudley said. "We were just thrilled with the response. Lots of people signed up for memberships. People were delighted to have the pool open again."