John B. Kelly Pool in Fairmount Park/Photo via John B. Kelly Pool’s Facebook page.
As the summer is in full force, here’s information on where in West Philly and vicinity you can find a free outdoor pool or sprayground to cool off. If you know of any other pools/spraygrounds not included in the list please let us know at editor@westphillylocal.com or in the comments below.
Pools
Pool Hours: Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m.
Baker Recreation Facility (Map)
5431-43 Lansdowne Ave.
Phone: 215-685-0261
Cobbs Creek Recreation Facility (Map)
280 Cobbs Creek Parkway
Phone: 215-685-1983
John B. Kelly Pool (Facebook page)
4231 North Concourse Drive (Fairmount Park, by Please Touch Museum)
Phone: 215-685-0174
Kingsessing Recreation Center (Map)
4901 Kingsessing Avenue
Phone: 215-685-2694
Lee Cultural Center Recreation Facility (Map)
4328 Haverford Avenue
Phone: 215-685-7655
Mill Creek Recreation Facility (Map)
743-81 N. 48th Street
Phone: 215-685-0260
Myers Recreation Center (Map)
5800 Chester Avenue
Phone: 215-685-2698
O’Connor Pool (Website, Map)
2601 South Street
Phone: 215-685-6593
Sayre Morris Recreation Center (Map)
5835 Spruce Street
Phone: 215-685-1993
Shepard Recreation Facility (Map)
5700 Haverford Avenue
Phone: 215-685-1992
Tustin Recreation Facility (Map)
5901-29 W. Columbia Avenue
Phone: 215-685-0258
39th & Olive Playground – Mantua (Map)
39th & Olive Streets
Spraygrounds
48th & Woodland Playground (Map)
1414 S 47th Street
Phone: 215-685-2692
Hours: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Mon-Sat, closed on Sunday.
July 8th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
A breakdown of adult versus recreational versus family (plus a description of what each of those things mean) would be very helpful. Internet searches prove totally worthless, and phones frequently aren’t answered.
July 9th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Shepard is GREAT.
Pool has general swimming from 1pm-4pm. The pool is 3′ deep on the ends and 4′ deep in the middle. The guards have family swim on the far end and single kids on the other, which is wonderful if your 2-6 year old doesn’t like middle-school roughhousing. If the pool is full (30/guard), they cycle cohorts hourly so everyone gets a chance.
From 4pm-5pm, a free swim team/swimming lessons meets for kids ages 5-16. They are still looking for kids who can swim the width of the pool or further distances.
From 5pm-7pm, M-W-F is adult swim & T-Th is family swim.
Don’t worry if the pool is full–there is a sprayground too. And two challenging regular playgrounds for pre-school & elementary kids. Plenty of trees, swings, picnic tables (plus a big picnic shelter), big fields to play ball, and an indoor gym.
No lockers, so leave your valuables in the car. Ample street parking.
July 9th, 2013 at 10:49 pm
By the way, the 11am-7pm thing is MISLEADING. I was told at Kelly Pool and at Shepard Pool that across the city, open swim is from 1p-4p. Adult swim is 5p-7p across the city, though some pools have family swim from 5p-7p. These types of things are written nowhere.
July 11th, 2013 at 11:25 pm
Info on Cobbs Creek:
The pool at Cobbs Creek looks very nice. It’s olympic sized, has 8 lanes, and goes from 3′ on one end to 5′ on the other. Lifeguards on duty of course, and use of the pool is 100% free.
During the week, camps use the pool from 11a-1p. Open swim is 1p-5p. (That’s longer than the open swim at Kelly or Shepard, which have open swim from 1p-4p.) Swim team practices from 5p-6p, and 6p-7p is adult swim. Sat/Sun the pool is open 12-5p. The lifeguards on duty weren’t sure, but thought that Cobbs Creek pool has swimming lessons on Saturdays.
Cobbs Creek also has indoor (air conditioned) roller skating during the summer. The rest of the year it’s for ice skating. Use of the rink is free. If you need to rent skates, those are $3/person. The rink is open M-F 3p-4:30p and F 6-8p. They also have roller skating during family fun nights, which are Tuesdays from 6-8p. The Tuesday family fun nights also include arts & crafts, board games, table tennis, and snacks, all for free.
Between the skating rink and the pool is a small playground, and there are large grassy areas behind both buildings, one for baseball complete with lighting, and the other just a large open area. The entire Cobbs Creek facility is nestled along the wooded area near Cobbs Creek, so you feel a bit more secluded–you can’t see the road from the pool–beyond the fence is just trees and grass on 3 sides.
July 12th, 2013 at 10:27 am
The “large empty space” behind the rink building is actually a dirt track that is just shy of regulation size, so a nice place to get some track work in, as well as the trailhead for the trail that runs along the creek between there and the environmental center. Denise, thanks for all the great info on hours! I am totally going roller skating!
July 12th, 2013 at 11:55 am
I didn’t actually notice a dirt track behind the pool or the rink, so I just looked on Google maps. Oh wow! It’s actually not behind the rink, it goes around the baseball field, which is behind the pool. Very cool! Unfortunately, when we stopped by yesterday, I noticed that what I assumed at the time was a dirt road going around a portion of the ballfield was a big huge mud puddle. The rest of the dirt track is probably a bit higher and not so muddy, but you might have trouble accessing it without your waders.
July 19th, 2013 at 11:51 am
FYI. Don’t count on the published hours for the pools, if you’re lucky enough to find them. Last night, we used the linked Facebook page above for the Kelly pool. It indicated family swim hours from 5-7. We got everything together for our baby and preschooler and headed to the pool, excited for the chance to cool off.
When we arrived, there were about 15-20 kids standing outside the gate. The man at the gate explained that no kids were allowed in the pool. (On one of the hottest days of the year at a time that had been advertised as open to parents and kids!) The man at the gate was apologetic, saying he didn’t make the decision. He let us in to speak to another man calling himself the superviser. This man said they’d made the decision that day to change family swim to adults only. (Which was strange because there were clearly teenagers inside.) When asked about the publicly posted hours, he said, “The website don’t know shit!” When asked how we could know about changes to the public pool schedule, he said we’d have to show up in person every time at the gate and ask.
We called today to ask if the hours had changed again and were told they hadn’t yet decided.
June 26th, 2016 at 4:48 pm
I like the public swimming pools across the city of Philadelphia even though people complain about the cleanliness and the conditions of the pools in off season’s. Maybe cleaning them out like bath tubs and painting the pools every few years would be a great idea,and the neighbor kids could use the cash and start being responsible for a chance…See you soon at a public pool near you.