Village, foundation work together for support
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The village of Beverly and the Beverly Waterford Pool Foundation are working together to open the Beverly Pool on May 24.
The foundation provides a great deal of the fundraising while the Village of Beverly supports the pool in its budget.
Last year, the Beverly Pool opened through the COVID-19 pandemic when most pools in Washington County remained closed.
Mike Bishman, owner of Professional Pool Management, was contracted again to work on the pool. He said the Beverly Village Council has not yet approved the pool's funding.
Beverly Mayor Jim Ullman said this will be the third year the village of Beverly and the pool foundation will work together.
"A bunch of community leaders came together and funded the pool," Ullman said. "Even though the pool is under the Village of Beverly, we work with them to open it."
Some of the foundation's fundraising efforts include selling sign advertisements, drawings where participants can win prizes and on the Fourth of July, they will be holding a night swim. The fundraising efforts will continue even when the pool is open to keep up with maintenance costs.
Amista Naylor, Beverly Waterford community pool group member, said Fort Frye High School students are involved in one big fundraiser during the winter months.
"They make signs, contact businesses and sell tickets," Naylor said. "It was part of a College Credit Plus class, and they focused on civic engagement and the Beverly Pool this year. "
Because of the limitations of COVID-19, Ullman said they will not be able to do pool passes, and only 100 people will be allowed in the pool at a time.
"We sell punch cards and basically you get a free pass by buying the punch card. You can buy 10 passes and the 11th one is free," Ullman said.
Naylor said the community also does its part to support the pool.
"Businesses donate to it. They buy tickets, what have you," Naylor said. "We have a lot of community and civic engagement groups. It takes everyone to get it done."
Ullman said the community is what brings back the pool each year.
"It's something that the community looks forward to every summer," Ullman said. "We were blessed to have a community that supports it otherwise we wouldn't have it."
Since the Beverly Pool was one of the only pools that opened in the surrounding area last year, Naylor said it showed what the pool meant to Beverly.
"I think last year you saw the village was committed. It was a local avenue to spend time with family and friends," Naylor said.
Kyle Nichols may be reached at knichols@newsandsentinel.com