The Prospect Lake Beach is open again for swimming after being closed two years due to city budget cuts.
After a couple weeks of fire-induced stress, I needed some beach time.
I got it Thursday at Prospect Lake.
That’s right, the swimming beach is re-opened after being closed two years due to city budget cuts. And it’s as good as ever.
The Eni R. Jaspersen Beach House is gleaming with new paint, renovated locker rooms and showers.
New sand was hauled in along the waterfront. Picnic tables were hauled out of the water.
Life guards are in the towers and it’s like old times.
It was quiet Thursday after a busy Fourth of July at the beach. Megan Quiggle was enjoying the water with her kids. They had come from Minnesota for a family reunion.
Some of the family wanted to fish. Others wanted to swim. Prospect Lake in Memorial Park was the place they could do both.
“It’s really nice,” she said.
Samantha Griffin was catching some rays on a beach towel near the water.
A west-side resident, Samantha said she bought a summer pool pass from the YMCA, which is operating the Prospect Lake Beach, as well as the re-opened Monument Valley Pool, Portal Pool and the Wilson Ranch Pool under a contract with the city. The Y also operates the city-owned Cottonwood Creek and Memorial Park recreation centers.
“I think it’s awesome,” Samantha said, adding that her 4-year-old daughter also enjoys the beach. “The bath house is nice and the life guards do a really good job.”
That sentiment echoed across the 400-foot-long beach, including from the Swimmin’ Women, a group that has been swimming at the beach for decades.
Rita Rosenberg, Trudy White, Ursula Kahkoska, Rosemarie Belz and Chris Conboy
No kidding. Trudy White started bringing her kids to the Prospect Lake Beach in 1968. Several knew Eni Jaspersen, namesake of the beach house.
Trudy and the rest of the Swimmin’ Women — Rita Rosenberg, Ursula Kahkoska, Rosemarie Belz and Chris Conboy — praised the Y and its aquatics director, Marti Wallner, for getting the beach back in shape after two years of neglect and vandalism took a heavy toll.
“We come almost every day,” Rosemarie said with a big smile. “The Y is doing a great job.”
They especially praised the Y for changing its fee structure at the beach to recognize the economics of the residents of the surrounding Hillside neighborhood.
“It was way too expensive,” Chris said. “It was $7 for adults, $5 for kids and $25 for families. Now it’s $5 for adults, $3 for kids and $15 for families.”
To my eye, the buoys of the swimming area need to be expanded. And city crews need to get in and mow some weeds along the fence. But otherwise it looks great.
And the Swimmin’ Women want everyone to know it’s a great place for families.
Just don’t take the picnic table in the southwest corner. The Swimmin’ Women had it fished from the water.
So they called dibs!
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Follow this link to the pool website of the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region.
Here’s the YMCA brochure for all its swimming facilities.
To read about the Prospect Lake Beach during its closure, click here.
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