Community excited for Rochester public pools reopening on Monday
Both Soldiers Field and Silver Lake Pool will reopen after being temporarily closed due to rowdy behavior.
Posted: Jun 13, 2021 10:56 PM
Posted By: Jeremy Wall
ROCHESTER, Minn.- Pack your sunscreen, towel, bathing suit, and sunglasses because the Silver Lake and Soldiers Field Pool are opening again on Monday.
Soldiers Field Pool was temporarily closed last week after its huge turnout led to fights, trespassing, and children left unattended. Parents like Katie Hasleiet are ready for it to reopen. I think it s super exciting that it s opening. Hopefully, everyone can be respectful of the rules so we can all have a good time enjoying the pool.
original story:
The Rochester Orcas Summer Pools Facebook page posted a video a couple of days ago that showed a line of 500+ people waiting to get in and said over 2,500 people visited the Soldier s Field Pool last weekend. Free admission combined with record heat here in southeast Minnesota has led to high attendance at area pools but unfortunately, fewer people are being allowed into one Rochester pool.
The Orcas say the Soldier s Field pool have to now enforce a capacity limit of 300 but it doesn t sound like the limit has anything to do with high demand but rather how people were acting. On their Facebook page, they wrote: Due to public members actions Soldier s Field pool capacity will be moved to 300 swimmers.
Citing Safety Concerns The City of Rochester Closes City Pools
Silver Lake s Pool was scheduled to open for the summer this week, but the city s other pool located at Soldier s Field has been open and has seen a huge spike in attendance this year because of the combination of free admission and record heat.
Yesterday, the Soldier s Field Pool announced a capacity limit of 300 in an effort to control unruly guests but that policy quickly changed. Citing safety concerns, the City of Rochester Parks & Recreation Department just announced the two city pools will be temporarily closed, effective immediately.
A press release sent from the city says the pools will remain closed while city teammates work with community partners to address safety concerns that have arisen over the past few days.