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NYC Extends Pool and Beach Season Beyond Labor Day for 2016
City kids hadn't even had a chance to dive into the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation's 55 pools before the Parks commissioner graced them with a special announcement: For the first time, many of the city's favorite swimming pools will remain open beyond Labor Day, closing the 2016 season on Sunday, September 11, and giving all New Yorkers an extra week to cool off.
The good news didn't end there, though, in addition to more time to enjoy the city's FREE pools, local beaches will again remain open past the traditional end-of-summer holiday. After last year's first successful extension of the beach season in 2015, the city's public beaches, specifically Rockaway Beach in Queens, Coney Island and Brighton Beaches in Brooklyn, Midland and South Beaches in Staten Island, and Orchard Beach in the Bronx, will also close for the season on September 11.
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More on those details: All 55 parks department pools are open through Labor Day, while the 36 intermediate and Olympic-sized pools will stay open beyond the holiday thanks to a $1.7 million budget increase in FY2017, according to the city. This includes many of our favorite spots, including Brooklyn's McCarren Park pool, John Jay on the Upper East Side, Highbridge Pool in Washington Heights, and the Astoria Park Pool, to name a few. Smaller pools will close on Monday, September 5. While beaches have been open since Memorial Day, the public pool season began Wednesday, June 29, to coincide with the first day of summer vacation for the city's public school students.
In addition to offering two sessions of daily open swim hours, from 11am-3pm and 4pm-7pm, New York's public pools are home to the summer SchoolFood program which provides children under the age of 19 with free breakfast and lunch. Residents can also register for FREE summer swimming lessons while adults can participate in lap swim programs or water aerobics classes.
More good news: Rockaway Beach, which was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, is nearly good as new, too, as the latest reconstructed section of boardwalk welcomes foot traffic just in time for the holiday weekend. The section from Beach 117th Street to Beach 126th Street reopens to pedestrians Saturday, July 2, and normal swimming operations will resume in the surf beyond. Though another round of construction will be needed to shore up a final section of boardwalk from Beach 19th-39th Streets in the off-season, the entire 5.5 mile stretch of boardwalk will remain open for the rest of the summer. As the city's largest beach, it attracts millions of sunbathers every year, NYC Parks says.
Before you head to your local pool, be sure to read up on all the rules you'll have to follow and check out our picks for the most family-friendly venues, as well as tips for water safety no matter where your summer travels take you.
Check out our NYC Summer Fun Guide or the Beaches, Pools, and Water Parks Guide for more FREE and inexpensive ways to stay cool this summer.
Top photo: Kids cool off at McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg. Photo courtesy the NYC Parks Department.
