A grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2:00 pm Thursday, June 19th, will celebrate completion of the Aquatic Center at MLK Jr. Park. The ceremony will feature speakers from organizations and government agencies who helped with the success of this project.
The aquatic center, located at the corner of South 9th Street and East Race Street, will open to the public following the ceremony at 3:30 pm. Tours of the facility will be provided.
This grand opening comes just over a year after construction began on May 8th, 2024 with a groundbreaking ceremony.
“This is a remarkable achievement by the community,” Yakima Parks and Recreation Manager Ken Wilkinson said. “An aquatic center for MLK Jr. Park is the realization of a vision years in the making.”
The City and Yakima County each committed $3 million to the aquatic center. The Washington State Legislature contributed more than $2 million.
A grassroots, community-wide outreach resulted in over $3 million in contributions from local individuals, organizations and businesses. These ranged from $500,000 donated by OIC of Washington and $225,000 by the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, to $800 in change collected by local children.
“Each person and organization did their part to make this dream a reality,” said Wilkinson.
A pool at MLK, Jr. Park (which was called Washington Park at the time) was closed in 2006 due to it having reached the end of its life span. The year before that, the City closed Miller Pool in Northeast Yakima and Eisenhower Pool on the west side of the city for the same reason.
Today, the City of Yakima has three pools; Franklin Pool, the indoor Lions Pool, and now the Aquatic Center at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
Click on the following link to learn more about City of Yakima aquatic facilities and programs – Aquatics | Yakima Parks and Recreation