Breaking new ground: Mission Valley Aquatics begins construction on swimming facility

POLSON — Eight lanes, 25 yards and several decades in the making.

At noon, Friday, July 8, Mission Valley Aquatics leaders and community members will come together to celebrate breaking ground on Polson's new aquatics center.

While MVA itself has only been around for eight years, according to project director Tana Seeley, individuals in the community have wanted and attempted to build a pool for more than 50 years.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Councilman Steve Lozar learned to swim at the Bureau of Indian Affairs' outdoor swimming pool at the old tribal headquarters in Dixon.

While that facility is no longer open, Lozar recalls it was the hub of youth activity every summer and he sees the value of a community indoor swimming facility now. However, he has also experienced firsthand the challenge it's been to build one.

"[The value of a community pool] struck me early on from both ends of the spectrum," he said. "If we could supply the kids and the elders a safe, warm indoor pool it would be used all year long; and I'm sure those folks in the middle would be just as excited with that opportunity."

But pools aren't cheap and this relatively small market has been historically hesitant to support one.

"My wife was on a calling committee 20 years ago that was trying to organize a pool and folks were dead against it because they didn't want to have to pay for it," Lozar said. "I've seen a change in the mindset in the last few years."

A commissioned feasibility study in 2004 provided MVA statistical evidence that proved an indoor aquatic center would not only be

welcomed by the community, but would be sustainable.

In 2008, taxpayers formed an official recreation district with the passing of a mil levy, which will cover two-thirds of operation and maintenance costs once construction begins on the new facility. The boundaries extend from Elmo and Yellow Bay to Minesinger Road, south of Polson. More importantly perhaps, the levy's passing openly strengthened the community's support of the project and brought in two large, anonymous donations.

Lozar attributes this change in mind set to the community's "maturation process," and the pool project as a slow and steady, true grass roots campaign starting from the bottom and working its way up.

"The folks that were young parents early on and could recognize the need for recreation for their kids, now they're the middle-aged

parents that are becoming grandparents and they have that recognition for a healthy recreation opportunity,"

he said.

MVA has been a constant, persistent force in the community throughout the last decade. Through events like the group's annual one-mile swim race from the KwaTaqNuk Resort to Boettcher Park in August and filling goggle-wearing piggy banks as a fundraiser at the

local elementary schools, the seed was planted in healthy soil, nurtured with constant care and now thriving in the greater public's mind set.

Earning the support of the tribes, county and city governments, school districts and many local service clubs and organizations, it's been a long road for Seeley and her dedicated board of directors. They've weathered every storm, a down economy, and pushed through barriers that were previously thought impassible.

"There was some skepticism around the whole idea of building a pool early on," Seeley said. "People didn't think it could happen - and some people to this day are still skeptical."

But it is really happening and in 2012, an eight-lane, 25-yard lap pool should be finished and open for business, a thought that even Seeley herself sometimes can't believe.

"I get teary-eyed; it's amazing," she said.

Yet, their work is far from over.

Construction of the building's first phase will cost about $650,000 more than MVA's current $3 million in funds and pledges. And that doesn't account for the warm water therapy pool, which was placed in phase II, requiring an additional $300,000.

"We want people to know that now is the time to show their support because what we can put into this project now will determine

what we get in the end," Seeley said. "If we can get people to commit to donations now, we can do both the first and second phases at once, which will ultimately cost less."

If the thought of another winter like this last one turns your stomach inside out, remember that as we suffer through one of the coolest, wettest springs in recent memory, we do so with the promise of a warmer future. Thanks to the relentless effort of visionaries past and present, we will soon have the opportunity to swim, splash about and work out, year-round.

"I think it's like that baseball field in Field of Dreams," Lozar said. "I think that once it's built, it's instantly going to be a focal point in our collective community, from children to elders and everyone in between."