Every summer, Philadelphia runs 70 public pools in neighborhoods across the city, helping sweaty residents stay cool. Most of these pools are low on frills, as you might expect from a City run enterprise with such a utilitarian goal. Of late though, we’ve seen interest in low cost but highly visible efforts to pretty up some of our public pools. This started in 2015 with the pop-up pool in Francisville, and last summer an initiative called Swim Philly spruced up four additional pools with beach chairs, a coat of paint, plantings, and programming.

The pools open shortly after the school year ends, and as that’s a few weeks away, we’ve got pools on the brain. Specifically, today we’re looking at the Marian Anderson Rec Center pool on the corner of 17th & Catharine. Like many other City pools, this pool is quite simple, with a pool surrounded by concrete which is surrounded by some grass and trees. The space isn’t terribly welcoming, and perhaps the worst feature is the chain link fence that separates the pool from an adjacent seating area.

The Friends of MARC are working to create a pop-up pool this summer at Marian Anderson, an effort that will include removing the chain link fence and repainting the seating area, purchasing new lounge chairs, installing a small deck built by OFC Philly (no relation) with additional seating, a new shower, plantings, and a game area. Here’s a look at the site plan which shows exactly what we’re talking about.

All this won’t come free, of course. SOSNA has already pledged $6,000 to the cause, and there’s a GoFundMe page that’s been set up with a goal of raising an additional $10K. The page was set up yesterday and has already raised almost $5,000, and that doesn’t count a $1,000 matching pledge from Bloktoberfest which will kick in after the fundraising surpasses $5,600. Not only will these funds go toward improving the MARC pool, but it will also allow the rec center to hire a full time employee for the summer to handle additional lifeguarding duties, programming, and other operational duties.

Volunteer installation of the pop-up will take place on June 16th and 17th, with the pool expected to open about a week and a half later. If you’d like to get involved with the pop-up, you can visit the Friends of MARC Facebook page to volunteer. If you’d like to make a donation to this project, click here.