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ELKINS -- Officials said the newly opened Randolph County Community Pool and Splash Pad at the Elks Lodge is drawing crowds every day it is open to the public.
"We had a ribbon cutting at the pool, and we opened up the next day," Randolph County Commissioner David Kesling said during the most recent commission meeting. "We had a total for sign-ins of 216 people for opening day.
"One of the things I'm asking them to do is to find out where the people are coming from. We had people from Fayetteville, Morgantown, and we had a lot of people from Parsons. So it is drawing people from outside of Elkins and outside of Randolph County."
A ribbon cutting was held at the pool on May 26, and opening day for the facility was May 27.
"It was very successful," Kesling said. "We had 216 people sign in, but there were several people who just came up to look at (the new pool).
"Elkins Councilwoman Judy Guye and her husband came up, I gave them a tour of the facility. She was very appreciative of what the commission had done for that project."
Weather and plumbing kept the pool closed for several days after that, Kesling said.
"We had kind of a rainy day on Sunday, and then on Monday too. We closed on Monday because of the weather forecast. We didn't even chance it on Monday," he said.
"We had a bit of an issue, an old water line from where we redid the bath house. New plumbing met old plumbing from like the '70's, which was just like downspout piping ... it had warped, and it wouldn't let water flow through that. So they cut that out, got that fixed, were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday and then they opened back up (on Thursday)."
Officials are also encouraged by the community's interest in booking private parties at the pool.
"For the next seven or eight days we have private parties booked each day, and I think there are 22 private parties booked for the month of June," Kesling said.
He also noted that on the pool's opening day "a private donor donated money to cover the expense so we could offer free admission on opening day. And there have been several other businesses who have reached out ... to sponsor free days, so we're looking at that as well."
Kesling praised Jeff Pritt and the Elks Club for all their cooperation and dedication to the project.
During the meeting, the commissioners approved a payment of $523 for chemicals used in the pool. The funds were taken from the county's hotel/motel tax fund.
Officials formally broke ground on the pool/splash pad project on July 8, 2022. The total cost for the project has a price tag of $2,163,372, and the construction has been completed by Danhill Construction.
The pool is open Mondays through Fridays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.