Cashmere swim team grows as city balances pool access, community demand

CASHMERE — As summer approaches in Cashmere, city officials and swim team organizers are working to make sure more local kids than ever will have a place in the pool.

During the May 11 Cashmere City Council meeting, the council approved the Cashmere swim team’s agreement for the 2026 season after a lengthy discussion that reflected both the growing popularity of the program and the balancing act required to share one of the community’s busiest summertime assets.

The agreement itself includes a handful of updates, including expanding swim team access to begin at 7:30 a.m. instead of 8 a.m., increasing swimmer fees from $15 to $18 per participant, and restructuring the agreement so it renews annually on a calendar-year basis.

But much of the discussion centered less on contracts and more on how to accommodate growing demand from local families while preserving access for other pool users.

“We have the challenge of more kids wanting to swim than we have space for it to operate a really quality and safe experience,” swim team representative Amanda Esmond told the council.

Esmond explained that the swim team board recently restructured its practice schedule to create room for approximately 30 additional swimmers this summer. Younger swimmers will now practice in shorter 45-minute sessions, while older swimmers will retain full-hour workouts.

“By expanding just a half an hour, we’re going to be able to serve another 30 kids,” Esmond said. “It seems like a no-brainer.”

Council members repeatedly voiced support for the swim team and the city pool itself, describing it as one of Cashmere’s most valuable community assets.

“We have this beautiful asset, right? And we want it to be used,” councilmember Jeff Johnson said. “If we had a swim team with 30 people, that’s great for those 30 people, but 120 is awesome.”

Johnson added that the swim team likely serves more residents than many other city recreation offerings combined.

City Clerk Elizabeth Martinez said the city has been working with Esmond and Mayor Jim Fletcher to update the agreement and begin longer-term conversations about rates, pool access, scheduling, lanes and lifeguard requirements for future seasons.

“So there’s going to be a deeper conversation in the fall for the 2027 year of what the actual rates will be and to make it to where both parties are getting the best from both ends,” Martinez said.

The conversation also touched on lane availability for lap swimmers, staffing requirements for lifeguards and the challenge of hosting large Thursday evening swim meets while remaining respectful of nearby residents.

Esmond said one meet each season, typically against larger teams like East Wenatchee, occasionally runs long enough that organizers have had to cut events short in order to clear the facility by nighttime quiet hours.

Still, the tone of the discussion remained collaborative throughout the evening, with city officials and swim organizers repeatedly emphasizing a shared goal of making the pool accessible to as many community members as possible.

The discussion came as city crews continue preparing the pool for the summer season, including long-overdue repainting work that Director of Operations Steve Croci said has not been fully completed in roughly 20 years.

“If the weather looks good, we’ll give it a couple days to paint,” Croci said. “And if it doesn’t look good, we’ll just fill it up and do it in the fall.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media