I got excited when I saw the pictures of Big Sandy's first pool. I had heard a swimming pool before our current pool was somewhere by the Big Sandy Lumber. I have been searching for information through old newspapers. I haven't yet found much about how it was built and by whom. The first mention of a pool was in October of 1917. A splatter of pool articles was mentioned running through 1919, but it was about small groups trying to raise funds for a pool every time. They talk about family activities at the pool. They were having picnics by the pool. Organizations met at the pool and swam together.
I want to find more information, so if anyone out there has more somewhere in their families photobooks or remembers stories being told about the first Big Sandy Pool, please contact the Mountaineer.
Currently, $406,000 has been raised for the new pool. The New Pool Committee is still concentrating on getting more grants. But are looking at fund raising ideas this summer and fall. The Catholic Church Women invited the New Pool Committee to join them in hosting the Fall Harvest Festival on September 17, with half of the money raised going to the new pool fund.
The Swim Team will be hosting a golf tournament with some of the proceeds going to the new pool.
A generous donor has said any new donations will be matched up to five thousand dollars.
Being from Glasgow, I have watched their new pool fund with interest. In Glasgow, their project is over 3 million. So I was interested in how their project was doing. This last weekend it was their all-class reunion, and they raised $500 thousand from people returning to Glasgow. So far, they have raised over $2 million for their pool project.
With that knowledge, we would have already reached a pool project here with 2 million costs. So it is doable.
I noticed on Facebook that the Big Sandy pool is often mentioned. I don't think I have ever thanked those who make it possible for Big Sandy to have a pool. Maybe we should look at the 1917 pool and use it as they did. It was the center of recreation for the whole town. We can't afford to go anywhere right now, so dig out those swimming trunks.
