FLORISSANT, Mo. — Just in time for the long weekend, Florissant residents will have a new spot to cool off.
Koch Park's pool closed in 2017 because it was old and falling apart. Florissant voters approved a $10 million bond to rebuild the city's aging aquatic facilities.
Thursday afternoon, city officials cut the ceremonial ribbon for the new Koch Park Aquatic Complex.
Swimmers will have to wait until Saturday for the official opening day to take a dip.
"This weekend, for Memorial Day weekend we're going to do residents only," City of Florissant Recreation Superintendent Jimmy Kirincich tells 5 On Your Side.
The weekend will be a soft opening and a thank you to residents for passing the bond measure.
"Our residents certainly stepped up and knew how important it was for the city to have this aquatic center," Florissant Mayor Timothy Lowery said with a smile.
When city officials gathered Thursday, the pool was still green. Kirincich said the look is temporary: "We just got the pool up and running. Hopefully we'll have crystal clear blue water by tomorrow and especially by Saturday we'll be ready to go."
Lap swimmers... put down the phone, pull your hands from the keyboards... no need to complain, there will be a pool opening just for you later this summer.
"Bangor pool was very old, so that was demolished and a new pool is being built there. Hopefully that we're going to have that open on July the 4th," Lowery said.
"Bangor is more of your traditional lap swimming pool and it will host our Florissant swim team throughout the summertime," Kirincich said. "It has eight lap lanes and a zero-depth entry and a splash pad for the kids there as well."
Until then, the lazy river, slides, bouncers and basketball hoop of Koch will have to do.
"I'm just hoping to see a lot of people out here enjoying themselves," Lowery said. "The kids out here enjoying themselves, the families out here. So I want this to be another place that our community can get together and just enjoy our community."