After about seven years in the works, the new Oxbow Swimming pool has finally opened with a splash on Wednesday. 

"The plans were first developed in about 2012, and we’ve been fundraising ever since," explained Tami Scott, Community Development Officer. "So last year in February, we decided to go ahead with construction, which started last July and was just completed yesterday [Tuesday]. It took a while to get the funds pulled together; unfortunately, we started fundraising right around the time the price of oil dropped and so there wasn’t as much money in the community as there had been in previous years; therefore it took a little longer to pull money together."

"I think making the decision that we had enough money to go forward, the town of Oxbow jumped in and said they will do a loan for the remainder that hasn’t raised yet, so that was a huge factor. The community raised $1.1 million, and the town will be contributing a loan in the amount of around six to $700,000. We haven’t gotten all the bills in yet, that’s what we’re estimating."

The pool opened on July 24 with a free swim for the community, that drew a large crowd of people eager to check out the new pool. The pool still has some smaller items to be done before the end of the summer, but they are glad to have the pool open and ready for the public.

Tami notes where the people of Oxbow have been going swimming before the pool opened, "people were probably headed out to the lake; Carnduff was great in the fact that they helped host our speed swimming club, provided the time for them to swim, and I’m sure there’s a lot of people who went there for public swimming."

She also noted how thankful she is for all the volunteers who helped in the process. Casey and Layla Kitz were the first swimmers to jump in the new pool yesterday and the official grand opening for the pool is planned for June of 2020.