Garden City’s Big Pool opens for summer

One of Garden City’s biggest attractions is open for the summer.

KSNW-TV reports the city’s Big Pool is filled with more than 2 million gallons of water and ready to accommodate swimmers – hundreds of them, more than the populations of some Kansas towns.

Monica Colborn, aquatics director for the Garden City Recreation Commission, says the pool draws anywhere from 500 to 1,500 swimmers a day.

Dating to the 1920s, the pool is so big that as a promotional stunt, a small motorboat once pulled a couple of water skiers around the surface.

Western Kansas remains in a deep drought, but Garden City water superintendent Tony Hurtado says the pool isn’t really a water hog. Once it’s filled, the water is recycled and filtered.