Former Mayor Anthony Williams kicked off pool season by performing cannonballs. (Photo via DC.gov)The District’s outdoor public pools are open this weekend, though with forecasted high temperatures of 61 degrees tomorrow and 70 degrees on Sunday and Monday, it’s not exactly peak swimming weather. Nineteen outdoor pools, four children’s pools, and 11 spray parks begin seasonal weekend hours tomorrow, and will expand to full schedules in June.
Mayor Vince Gray and the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation kicked off swimming season today at the pool at the Harry Thomas Sr. Recreation Center in Bloomingdale. But once again, D.C. residents were robbed of the great tradition started by former Mayor Anthony Williams: the mayoral cannonball. Instead, Gray sat in the lifeguard chair as DPR Director Jesus Aguirre, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Paul Quander, and other District government employees took the inaugural plunge of the season.
Admission to city pools is free with proof of residency. Visitor fees are $7 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $3 for kids between six and 17 years old. Pools will be open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from noon to 6 p.m. this weekend, then on Fridays and Saturdays through mid-June. Weeklong schedules will go into effect on June 21 after the end of the D.C. Public Schools academic year.
As for that mayoral cannonball, Gray continued ignoring the ceremonial dive, which was an annual feature of Williams’ mayoralty. Williams successor, Adrian Fenty, discontinued the tradition, a habit that Gray has apparently chosen to continue through his first term.
But there could be some hope for the mayoral cannonball. After much prodding on Twitter and from Tom Sherwood on WAMU’s The Politics Hour, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who is running in the 2014 mayoral election, hemmed and hawed about whether he would resume the splash. “I’m not sure people want to see me do a cannonball,” he said.
The Wells campaign put on its website a petition for people who would want to see the candidate do a cannonball. The campaign of Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 2) has not made any statements today on the mayoral cannonball.
