'Dream come true' | Crews break ground for new aquatic center in East Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. — East Yakima pool advocate Esther Huey remembers living in Arkansas at 7 years old, watching white children swim and being told by her mother she and her siblings couldn’t join them.

“We cried because we couldn't, because of the color of our skin,” Huey said. “But my mother promised me that, ‘Sis, just keep living. One day, you’re going to swim.’”

It’s that memory that Huey has come back to so many times over the years, as she and other community members have fought for the return of a pool in East Yakima, a lower income area with a higher population of people of color and fewer recreational opportunities for children.

Now, after more than 15 years of advocacy and grassroots fundraising, crews broke ground Wednesday on the highly anticipated Aquatic Center at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, located in the heart of East Yakima.

The aquatic center will feature multiple pools, a vortex, water slide, climbing wall, rope swing, a ninja cross climbing structure and more.

It’s a project Yakima County Commissioner Kyle Curtis said is beautiful for many reasons, not just for what it’s bringing to the community.

“Not only because of the inequities that it will address in our community, not only because of the activities for our youth and elderly up and down our valley that it will provide for our community, but today's project is beautiful, because it has brought the community,” Curtis said.

The groundbreaking ceremony also brought the community together: from older residents who remember the previous pool to younger residents like 9-year-old Laliyah Bravo, who’s never had a pool in her neighborhood.

“I just want to say thank you for having my dream come true,” Bravo said. “This is such an honor to have this pool come alive and it's all because of everyone here.”

The more than $11 million project is being funded by donations from community members, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies all coming together to support it.

“It’s unprecedented in my career to be able to build a swimming pool without raising anybody's taxes,” Yakima Parks and Recreation Manager Ken Wilkinson said. “That is unbelievable.”

Wilkinson said they’ve raised most of the money needed for the project, but are still $400,000 short of their original goal. He said they’ve also already had some expenses that were more than they anticipated, bringing the total for what they need to raise complete the project to $500,000.

The Yakima Valley Community Foundation is accepting donations online here for the Aquatic Center at MLK Jr. Park Fund.

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