BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – It has been announced that the Black Knight and New River pools in Beckley unfortunately will not be open in time for Memorial Day Weekend this year.
Each year, Memorial Day Weekend arrives as a harbinger of the festivities to come along with the warmer temperatures brough by the summer months.
These Beckley attractions will be experiencing delayed openings this season however, with the locations set to welcome the public on Friday, June 3, 2022.
The delays in opening are reportedly due to the necessity of additional time in the training of lifeguards by USA Pools.
Several counties throughout West Virginia have struggled to keep public swimming locations functional in recent years due to difficulty in maintaining sufficient lifeguard staff to keep the pools legally operational. Lootpress coverage of these developments can be found here.
The City of Beckley’s arrangement with USA Pools to supplement lifeguard was discussed during a meeting of the Raleigh County Commission in early April. This deal was purported to cost the city $130,000, an arrangement that Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold said was “very favorable.”
“I would like to emphasize that the City of Beckley is not in the swimming pool business to make a profit,” Rappold pointed out in April. “It’s to serve the citizens of Beckley, and we’ll do that as long as we can afford to do so.”
The Black Knight pool has been able to maintain sufficient staff to continue functioning over the past few seasons, as the pool – which can accommodate roughly 100 swimmers – requires substantially fewer active lifeguards than does the New River Pool, which can accommodate hundreds of swimmers, and has been non-functional for the past two years due to staffing issues.
Several counties throughout West Virginia have taken measures to combat the issue of insufficient lifeguard staffing, including paying for necessary training and certification, and increasing hourly wage rates of lifeguard employees.
More information on events and openings in the City of Beckley can be found at the city website here.
