Toronto pools are opening this weekend (with online registration opening tomorrow morning at 8am!) and I will be chatting all things swimming with CBC's Jason D'Souza this afternoon!
Summer swimming in Toronto pools is...well, the greatest. They're free (FREE! How lucky are we?!) and there is really nothing better than floating in the middle of the deep end on one of Toronto's scorchers. BUT, each pool has its quirks—at some, you need a quarter for the lockers, at others, a lock. At some, you can bring bags out on the deck, at others, it's a no-go... (The only constant? Always bring flip-flops...!)
The City site has all the hours/different kinds of swims available, but not the small details that make trying out a new pool easy. And so, let's make a list together! Send me your pool insider notes over Twitter: @lindsayzv or at our fancy new IG: @swimmingholeswehaveknown_
If you head to a Toronto pool this summer, let us all know:
- are there universal change rooms? Family change rooms?
- are bags allowed on deck?
- is it accessible?
- what's the locker situation like? Locks? Quarters?
- nearest transit stop? Is there parking?
- is there an area for strollers?
- anything else? Diving boards? A permanent-length lane? Lane ropes during length swim? A good view from the deep end? Sloped entry in the shallow end?
A list of all of Toronto's outdoor pools (addresses and hours): HERE!
Alex Duff Pool (at Christie Pits):
- universal change room
- bring a quarter for the lockers
- stroller parking on deck
- permanent lane for length swim (though it's narrow)
- multiple pools: splash pad pool for kiddos (not always open), shallow pool, regular pool with gradual entry, diving board, water slide!
Alexandra Park Pool
NOTE: under repair for the summer of 2019
Blantyre Pool
- no lockers
- no family washrooms
- very dirty bathrooms
- bags allowed on deck
- strollers allowed on deck
- lots of street parking
- on the #12 TTC bus line
- next to a park
Donald D. Summerville Olympic Pool
- gendered change rooms
- quarters for lockers
- open and curtained showers and changing area
- can take bags on deck
- stairs or elevator from change rooms to pool
- roped off lanes in 50m lane pool
- 25m leisure pool
Giovanni Caboto:
- universal change rooms
- small lockers that require bring-your-own locks
- stroller parking in hallway near entrance
- lane ropes during length swim (usually)
- bags allowed on decks
- ample deck space
- 50m!
- water slide
Greenwood Park Pool:
- lockers (need quarters!)
- can bring bags on deck
- accessible, gendered change rooms
- lane ropes during length swim
- gets pretty full of debris by evening
High Park Pool:
- no universal change room
- quarter for the lockers
- no bags on deck (though this isn't really enforced)
- separate kids' area with a splash pad
- close-ish from High Park subway Station. Parking in High Park (though it's usually full on the weekends)
- water slide!
- sloped entry in the shallow end
- distinct shallow end and deep end
- lane ropes during length swim
- nearby wading pool and splash pad
- note: the water is often *very* cold as the pool's not heated!
Lambton Kingsway Park Pool:
- gendered change rooms
- family change room
- parking available
- near tennis courts and baseball diamonds
- bike parking right outside pool
- bags allowed on deck
- no lockers
- lots of deck space
- entrance ramp
- lane ropes during lane swim (and gets busy after 5pm!)
Monarch Park Pool
- slide, diving board
- strollers/bags allowed on deck
- Note at the end of June 2019: "Due to mechanical issues Monarch Park Outdoor pool will not open as scheduled. Staff are working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Opening date is to be determined."
North Toronto Memorial Pool:
- space to store strollers
- a large amount of bike racks outside
- bags/items can be kept on deck
- sloped entry into the shallow end
Parklawn Pool:
- no lockers, but you can bring bags on deck
- heaps of parking and park nearby
- "family" change room is really far away from the pool and I think you still have to walk through one of the gendered change rooms (unless this has been updated)
- no lane ropes during length swim.
Rotary Peace Park Pool:
- gendered and family change rooms
- 25-cent lockers
- bags allowed on deck
- landscaped fencing and vines around the deck
Riverdale Park East Pool:
- gendered changerooms and a family changeroom
- lockers take quarters
- bags allowed on deck
- *cold* showers!
- the slide is currently closed (as of the end of June)
- Muskoka chairs available on deck
- strollers and pop-up beach tents allowed on deck
Smythe Park Pool:
*it's been closed a lot this summer, so call in advance if you can*
- no universal change rooms (though you can walk straight onto the deck if you're already changed)
- a small kids pool AND a 50m pool
- no bags on deck and no lockers BUT there's an attendant and a place to store your things (or you can just leave your bag by a fence near the pool, inside the facility
- there's also a splashpad nearby
- no lanes during length swim
Sunnyside Pool:
- very strict about the no bags on deck! (You can bring stuff on deck, just no bags!)
- bring a quarter (and a back up!) for the lockers
- permanent width swim (with lane ropes)
- no universal/family change room
- small spot for strollers in the hall on the way to the shower
- very strict about no newspapers on deck
- lots of deck room
- baby car seats and bassinets allowed on deck
West Mall Pool:
- recently renovated
- gendered and universal change rooms
- no lockers
- bags allowed on deck
- outdoor showers
- accessible
- abundant muskoka chairs!
Last year, every time I figured out childcare and the delicate timing between breastfeeding and napping a 4-month-old, I'd arrive at the pool to locked doors. I swear there were thunderstorms every other day last summer. But somehow, last week, I managed a veritable swimming miracle—a swimiracle, if you will.
The sun shone all day, like it has been every day for days and days, but clouds started rolling in around 5, and I started realizing the swim I had been looking forward to all week (okay, ALL YEAR) was probably not going to happen. I got grumpier and grumpier. I may have even thrown a mini-tantrum. But then, after dinner, the skies starting clearing up, and the sun started shining. I decided to chance it, my terrible thunder stormed track record be damned.
The drive to Smythe Park Pool is a strange one – you take a barely marked winding road off Scarlett Road and then there are trees and more trees, and even more trees, and then a Canada Goose settling down in the centre of the road. And then all of a sudden, a pool. A 50m pool – a rare unicorn in west-end City-run pools.
The changerooms were grimier then most making flip flops essential, BUT the pool was huge – 50 metres seems extra big when you're used to 25m – and it was mostly empty, with trees overhanging and planes flying overhead.
It had just opened after being closed for the earlier bout of thunder. How did I manage to catch this open window? I didn't have time to hesitate, there was 50 metres of turquoise perfection to swim through. Not even the belligerent intoxicated man could ruin my bliss (and thanks to the guard who could see what was happening and intervened quickly!).
My fast lane pal, who tipped me onto this pool, wasn't there, but another fast lane pal was, and I even heard one swimmer say that the three of us in the centre lanes were professional swimmers. Not even close (it might've been our bathing caps more than our swimming that tipped him off), but I'll take it!
The radio was blasting Wish You Were Here, the music was tinny and a bit staticky, like every on-deck radio should be. It is not a fancy pool, but it is a wonderful pool (with the most expansive interlock brick deck!)
I haven't been swimming in a 50m pool since university days (when I fell in love in the fast lane) and it is such a different pace. It's long when you're used to turning around every 25m, getting the push off the wall. My thoughts felt bigger somehow. Not that I was able to hang onto any great insights, but it felt good, having the time to let my thoughts meander.
I even saw some sort of bird of prey being attacked by a red winged black bird as I swam. The week-long heat wave broke mid-swim and the clouds started collecting in a dark grey mass over the northwest edge of the pool.
The minute the 45-minute length swim was up, the rain started. It was pouring by the time I got home – lightning, thunder, the sky the colour of Orange Crush, the works. I still can't believe my luck – that the rain and thunder held off until I had gotten my swim in, but it did and it felt like confirmation that last year's rained out stretch is firmly in the past.
All summer long I’ve been traveling from one watering hole to another, with my daughter by my side and a sketchbook in tow, repeating what I am calling 'A Waterside Sketchfest' at every swimming hole we hit!
- Swim, sketch, swim - repeat!
This has been a winning routine for me and my girl, and I have to say for the reluctant swimmer, which my daughter is, sketching is a great in between "dip" activity, (I use the term "dip" loosely, as with my little bean, it's more a "flash of water" and then out!) And best of all, me and my kid, and whoever joins us waterside, get to collaborate creatively!
So here are the keys to hosting your own successful Waterside Sketchfest:
1. Ziplock bag of markers, pens, pencils… or anything that makes a mark on a page. Next year, I’m hoping to be brave enough to bring some watercolours… then I’ll be able to write a "Waterside Watercolours" post! Fun Fact: Crayola markers run like watercolours when they get wet! Super cool effect.
2. A sketch book that is not so precious… because it’s going to get wet! You are waterside… it's kind of a guarantee that your pages will end up waterlogged and soggy. But water splotches can add some unpredictable beauty to your work!
3. Snacks –totally unrelated– but totally awesome!
4. Comfy towels to sketch on!
5. Oh and a beach umbrella if in full sun... and lots of suncreen!
*Small side note, might I also recommend some waterside stitching... and even though your sunscreened fingers may fumble and slip with the hand sewing needles, and you will probably get sand under your applique... it's totally worth it!
We’ve also been lucky to be have some pretty awesome guest stars on our swimming/sketching adventures, I’m talking about you Auntie Jo, Lo, and Meena-Mo!
Here are a few of the fun poolside/bayside collaborations we've had over this summer, and the bodies of water that inspired them:
The Alex Duff Eclipse Art!
The Giovanni Caboto Poolside Summer Memory Map
Just last weekend Nomi and I dared to dip during another cold snap, something that we've been getting very used to this summer. We hit up our local outdoor pool, the Givovanni Caboto, which I've definitely mentioned once or twice on this blog. The water was so warm, but MAN it was cold when you got out.
Bundled up in our towels we put our heads together and sketched out this scene, a "mapshot of our summer", including the adorable wading pool up the street from us that we've never been able to get to when it's open and full, but have spent many a night running around in its empty state under a setting sun.
Nomi also snacked on KD... pretty sure that is a certified swim snack, but I'll need a few other of my swimmers to weigh in on that.
Wasaga Beach In Blue
For this Sketchfest, we were joined by fellow swimmer Lady Lo. We took off on a rare hot and sunny Sunday this August, for a road trip to one of my favourite Ontario beaches, Wasaga (you can read Laura's amazing recap of our day here!) Nomi and I collaborated on a large beach scene which essentially just turned into a page of blue crayola marker... but it felt on point...
And I have to feature the snacks from this trip... because they were off the hook!
Stitching at Shebeshekong Bay
This picture says it all. Traveling sewing studio for the win! This is one of my many returns to Shebeshekong Bay this summer, visiting my dear friend's cottage. And that classic Aperol Spritzer would be my Docktail selection for this summer, if we hadn't already crowned it one of the official Docktails of 2015.
Finally, I leave without mentioning the Shebeshekong tannin rich water, which is out of sight: "Like swimming in silk!"
Meaford's Loose Threads
I'll be following this post up with one fully dedicated to the beautiful beaches we found in Meaford in early August. Absolutely stunning water scenes!
But here is a small sneak peek at where I sat and sewed beachside until someone had to drag me away! I was so inspired that weekend, and below is my attempt to stitch my state of water full-mind.
The first pool I can remember is Park Lawn Pool – a small pool in Etobicoke, down the tobogganing hill from my mom's house. I spent entire summers in that pool – playing Marco Polo in the shallow end, diving for coins on the last day of swimming lessons, learning to stride jump, failing Red three times because I couldn't manage to spread peanut butter with my arms and ride a bike with my legs for a full minute. It was the first place I was allowed to bike to by myself (though I was terrified of the "steep" winding hill down from the baseball diamonds that in retrospect is not steep, nor is it winding). It is where I learned CPR and the Heimlich manoeuvre and where I had my first crushes: Jennifer of the reflective sunglasses and Rebecca of the straight teeth and Mark of the zinc stripe on his nose.
I did all of my swimming lessons at Park Lawn, including my Bronze Medallion when I was too young to officially pass but oh-so-keen, my bathing suits frayed from being dragged across the deck after playing the choking victim in the deep end. I was on the recreational swim team (the Park Lawn Pirates and the Park Lawn Piranhas) and it was there that Peter Mansfield's mom said I had the most graceful backstroke. Because of all of those summers on the deck of Park Lawn Pool, I decided I wanted to be a lifeguard. And then I was a lifeguard on that deck...
And then last weekend, I took my 16-month-old to Park Lawn Pool. We past my childhood bully's childhood home, and my Grade 2 best friend's house on the drive over, and though I have never driven to that pool in my life, I was covered in goosebumps when we pulled into the parking lot. The change rooms smelled like they always have (damp and rubbery with a hint of mildew) and the sun was hot on the cement deck like it has been every year since I can remember.
I did not teach Jack how to tread water or how to do stride jump. I did not tell him how hard it is to keep your head tucked when you are learning how to dive, toes curled over the edge of the deep end, or how far away the shallow end is when you're tasked with doing butterfly for the first time in your life. Instead, I sat with him on the edge, holding back tears from how surreal it was to be sitting on the edge of the pool that held all of my childhood summers with my own baby.
He did figure out how to kick his legs that afternoon, and how to hold onto a flutter board.
Next up, bubbles...
