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Emmitsburg Community Pool Scheduled to Open

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The Emmitsburg Community Pool will be opening July 3, 2020 from 12 noon to 7:00 p.m. It will remain open every day, as long as permitted to do so, until Labor Day. From July 3 -17, 2020 the pool will only be open to Emmitsburg residents in the 21727 zip code on a first-come first-served basis due to the max occupancy restrictions set by the State. The max occupancy at any time is 111 persons. The situation will be re-evaluated to see if the pool can be opened to non-21727 zip code the week of July 17th. No season passes will be sold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Social distancing remains in effect even inside the pool. Face masks are not required, but encouraged. Please be mindful if you have an underlying health condition. The pool will be sanitized before opening and temporarily closed for sanitizing from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. every day. During that time, no one will be permitted in the pool or in the bathhouse. Please check the Facebook page and website for ongoing updates.

Pool Improvements Benefitting the Community

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James Rada, Jr.

Rebuilding the Emmitsburg Community Pool proved to be a good investment for the town, and judging by the number of people that used it this summer, it was well-liked by residents.

The town closed the community pool for the 2017 season in order to undertake a $369,500 rebuilding of the pool. The town commissioners had initially only been planning on renovating the existing pool, but a pressure test of the plumbing showed that it needed to be replaced. Also, the beams beneath the pool were damaged and needed to be replaced.

Besides a new pool, the pool house has a fresh coat of paint, and the pavilion was treated to remove the bees. The parking lot was repaved and repainted. The new pool’s depths range from 1 foot to 10 feet.

For the two seasons that the pool has been reopened, it is proving less costly to operate, in part, because it is not leaking water like a sieve.

Town Manager Cathy Willets told the commissioners in September that, not including the season pass holders, total attendance for the 88 days the pool was open was 9,911. The town also earned an average of $112.63 per day for admissions. This compares to 2018 when total attendance was 8,404 for 86 days, with the town earning an average of $97.72 per day.

The increase in revenue the town received was $7,258 for the year or about 33 percent more than 2018.

“That’s significantly higher than 2014, 2015, and 2016, before the renovations occurred,” said Willets. During those years, attendance was around 5,300 people a year for 65 days of operation.

Commission President Cliff Sweeney also pointed out that for the 35 days the concession stand was open, it averaged about $75 a day for the 3-4 hours it was open each day. It earned $2,700, while the food cost only $1,140. The profit from the stand goes toward Community Heritage Day. He said if it could be run by another organization that has the volunteers to run it, the concession stand could be a large fundraiser.

“You wouldn’t believe the people from Frederick who come up here to use the pool,” Sweeney said.

Besides Frederick, people are also coming from places like Fairfield and Taneytown and paying out-of-town prices to use the pool.

He said the reason they are willing to travel further and use a pool not in their community is that it is cleaner, quieter, and they enjoy the atmosphere and staff.