Everyone’s invited to enjoy the warm, sparkling water of the newly opened indoor swimming pool at the People’s Community Center in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood.

The grand opening celebration and open house held Sept. 24 attracted about 400 people to the center at 1602 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Erik Hanberg, president of the Metro Parks Board of Commissioners; Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland; City Council Member Victoria Woodards and former City Council Member Lauren Walker all heralded the pool as the kind of community treasure the Hilltop community deserves. Fletcher Jenkins, chair of the center’s citizen steering committee, recalled residents’ work to help the center become a reality. Later, a mural on the center celebrating the Hilltop community was dedicated. About 300 people took the opportunity to swim in the new pool.

The pool is open daily. It includes Tacoma’s only indoor spraypad, designed especially for toddlers. Admission is free for those 4 and younger, who must be accompanied by a caregiver.

Pool hours are 5:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. On weekends, late afternoons may be reserved for pool parties. Two party rooms are available for rental adjacent to the pool.

Open swim hours are 10:30 to noon Monday through Friday, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 3 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. and 2:45 to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Swimming lessons, water exercise, lap-lane and recreational swimming opportunities also are scheduled. The complete schedule is online on the People’s pool web page, www.metroparkstacoma.org/peoples-pool/.

Admission is $4 adults, $3 for youth ages 5 to 17 and free for children 4 and younger. Water exercise sessions cost $4.

– Metro Parks