When the 50 outdoor pools run by the Chicago Park District open Saturday they will offer 7-day access for the first time in six years, but the season will end mid-August — when the city is usually hit with extreme heat.
With a planned Aug. 17 closure, the swimming season will be its shortest since 2022, when only half the pools were open after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Park pools have operated on shortened seasons with limited hours or days and reduced capacities since 2021, records show. The year before, all the pools were closed due to the pandemic. When they first reopened, public access was dramatically reduced, both for capacity of swimmers and curtailed schedules.
Last year, most of the outdoor pools were open only six days a week, despite the low risk of COVID infections and increased staffing. Park district officials said many of the 600-plus lifeguards last year wouldn’t commit to 40-hour workweeks, which is why a number of pools were closed at least one day a week, and some were closed weekends.
For decades, Chicago pools have provided children with activities and residents, especially those without air conditioning at home, much-needed relief from the heat. And the heat can come early and linger deep into August. Last year, for example, there were six days that exceeded 90 degrees before June 21 and another four days that topped 90 degrees after Aug 17, when pools this year are slated to close.
The outlook this summer is for above-average temperatures and intense humidity, according to Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford.
Chicagoans will get the first taste of extreme heat this weekend when temperatures are forecast above 90 degrees and humidity levels are expected to be oppressive, Ford said. It’s been a cool June so far.
Northwestern University researchers are helping the city address extreme heat. Next month city officials plan to discuss the findings as they mark the 30th anniversary of the 1995 heat wave that left more than 700 people dead.
Pools are an important refuge from the heat, Chicago Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa acknowledged in an interview with the Sun-Times.
“The park district has a critical role to play in addressing extreme heat,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “Climate change is real. We’ve seen an increase in the number of triple-digit days in Chicago and across the nation. It’s incredibly important that every level of government works to protect people from extreme heat, particularly the most vulnerable communities.”
To that end, he hopes some pools can remain open past the Aug. 17 closing date — at least until Labor Day weekend.
But when the season ends for good will depend on how many lifeguards stay on the job for the final weeks of summer. Chicago’s public schools, which many lifeguards attend, start Aug. 18.
The park district has struggled in recent years to attract lifeguards, but has made some inroads, officials said. Applications were up more than 50% this year. At this point, the parks have assigned just over 660 lifeguards, an increase from 612 last year. Most employees agreed to work 40-hour weeks, officials said. In 2023, there were fewer than 500 lifeguards, and pools were only open five days a week.
City officials have blamed the shortage of lifeguards in recent years on a tight labor market. But the park district also was mired in a sex-abuse scandal involving male supervisors and female lifeguards that came to light at the end of the 2021 season. That abuse led to former Park District Supt. Mike Kelly’s ouster, and since has cost the city millions of dollars in court settlements.
This year, the pools are able to open for a full seven days because of better staffing, said Ramirez-Rosa, the former City Council member and ally to Mayor Brandon Johnson tapped in April to run the park district.
He said he hopes to add to that 660 total, which is a higher number of lifeguards than the two years before COVID. That number includes lifeguards for all the outdoor pools and 22 beaches.
The swimming season is getting a late start, opening more than a full week after Chicago Public Schools closed for the summer.
Eduardo Herrera, 39, was hoping to bring his kids to the Columbus Park pool in Austin this week and was surprised Tuesday it wasn’t ready for swimmers.
“My kids were excited, and now I have to tell them it’s not open,” Herrera said with a laugh at the Columbus Park playground. He has six children, including a pair of toddlers who were with him Tuesday.
“I’m very excited because my kids love the water,” he said. “It saves you hundreds of dollars instead of going to the water park.”
In addition to the outdoor pools, the city’s only inland beach at Humboldt Park will open Saturday. The park district also operates 27 indoor pools that are open year-round.
Other area pools have been open for weeks. The three Cook County Forest Preserve pools opened June 1. On Memorial Day weekend, Chicago’s 22 beaches opened. They remain open until Sept. 1.
Suburban pools, including those in Oak Park, Oak Lawn, Tinley Park, Skokie and Lincolnwood, are already open for the season. Several of those pools, including those in Oak Park, Oak Lawn, Skokie and Lincolnwood, will remain open through Labor Day.
In the first year of COVID, Chicagoans were deprived of an essential city amenity that provides thousands of residents a chance to cool off and enjoy free recreation.
That was especially important in areas of the city without access to other amenities and communities that trap heat. The Southwest Side includes the hottest areas of Chicago in the summer because of its distance from Lake Michigan, abundance of roads and concrete surfaces.
Ramirez-Rosa said he’s working with other city departments to understand the heat trends across Chicago.
“We really want to look at, where are the most vulnerable communities? Where are the most impacted communities?” he said.
Last year, Johnson was blasted for his response to extreme heat, including during the Juneteenth holiday, when libraries and other air-conditioned buildings used as cooling centers were closed, and swimming pools were only open for limited hours. This year, the outdoor pools won’t be open in time for the holiday Thursday.
How easily the public can access pools still varies by location, a Sun-Times analysis shows. That’s because all 50 block off sessions each weekday, between 45 minutes and almost four hours, for the day camps the park district also runs, mainly between June 23 and Aug. 1.
About a dozen outdoor pools (and most of the indoor ones) also reserve time, generally at the start or end of the day, for lap swimmers who pay a fee. The membership for lap swimming costs $25 a month, or $42 for three months.
Contributing: Alden Loury, Pat Nabong