The Kinsmen Aquatic Centre in Lacombe has spent the better part of six weeks dark and drained. Closed to the public from September 1 through October 12 for its annual fall maintenance and deep cleaning shutdown, the pool has been a construction site rather than a swimming pool, with crews working through change-room upgrades and updated amenities while residents waited out the annual gap in the swim calendar. On Tuesday, October 13, the doors open again, and the city has said visitors can look forward to new features and improvements when they return.
Reopening week comes with a soft landing: pop-up public swims on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m., and pop-up lane swims both days from 3:30 to 6 p.m. But the date circled on many Lacombe family calendars is a little further out. On Friday, October 30, the centre holds its annual Halloween Pool Bash, running from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., followed by a haunted house that stays open until 10 p.m.
The evening is built for all ages: swimming, games, prizes, popcorn, sno-cones and more. Tickets are on sale now at the aquatic centre's front desk, at 5429 53 Street.
The pool itself has a history worth knowing for anyone who has only ever seen it as a place to do lengths. The Kinsmen Aquatic Centre sits inside the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex, and the indoor swimming facility was built in 1996. It holds a 25-metre, six-lane main pool, a teaching and leisure pool, and a large hot tub, and it runs on a published pool schedule rather than spontaneous drop-in use, balancing lane swimming, lessons, aquasize and public swims across the week. Just outside is an outdoor splash park that was renovated and re-landscaped in 2013.
The building has been the subject of more ambitious planning as well. The City of Lacombe commissioned a renovation and business plan for the aquatic facility that identified more than $22 million worth of potential work, phased over time, including change-room, staff-area, pool-deck and lighting improvements, an expanded building envelope with a leisure pool, waterslide, fitness centre, indoor playground, hot tubs, spray structure, sauna and steam room, and an expanded mechanical core. Not all of that has been built, but the change-room upgrades completed during this fall's shutdown are a piece of the same long-running effort to keep a 1990s pool serving a growing community.
That makes the Halloween Pool Bash something of a homecoming each year. It arrives a little over two weeks after the pool reopens, giving staff time to shake out the systems and swimmers time to get back into the water before the centre dresses itself up for the season. The format is deliberately broad: the 5 to 7:30 p.m. block is the family-friendly swim-and-games portion, with the prizes and the snack table, while the haunted house runs later into the evening, until 10 p.m., for those who want the scarier half of the night.
For a small central Alberta city, it is also a reminder of how much of Lacombe's social life runs through its recreation facilities. The Sportsplex, with the pool under the same roof, is the kind of place where a fall maintenance shutdown is felt across the whole community, and where a reopening is worth marking. The city thanked residents for their patience during the six-week closure, and the Halloween event gives them a reason to come back through the doors.
Anyone planning to attend should note that tickets are sold at the front desk rather than online, so a trip to the centre, or a phone call to 403-782-1278, is the way to secure a spot. Pool schedules and programming information are posted on the city's Kinsmen Aquatic Centre page. The Halloween Pool Bash runs Friday, October 30, from 5 p.m., with the haunted house open until 10 p.m., at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre, 5429 53 Street, Lacombe.