Unalakleet gets a swimming pool

By Diana Haecker

With earthwork underway and cement ready to be poured, the community of Unalakleet could soon see a public swimming pool become a reality. Just outside of Unalakleet proper, toward the hillside, workers are preparing to pour a cement foundation on the six-acre parcel of land for the future pool.
The project is a collaboration between the Native Village of Unalakleet, financed by the Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation and local champions to help on the ground.
Thomas Massie said in a phone interview with the Nugget that after building and financing an elder assisted living facility in Unalakleet with regional partners, they were looking for another project to get off the ground. It struck the Massies that many who earn a living on a boat in Norton Sound, don’t know to swim.
Out of concern, they envisioned an aquatic health and safety center to be built in Unalakleet to teach adults and kids how to swim, thus helping  to prevent deaths by drowning. In a document pitching the idea for the swimming pool, the Massies argued that Alaska has a very high drowning rate, exacerbated by climate change- driven unpredictable ice conditions and growing numbers of drowning deaths by falling through the ice. This is a significant and preventable yet often neglected public health issue, they wrote. 
According to Massie, the foundation invested so far $3.3 million in the design and construction of the Unalakleet pool. He said, the foundation has more funds available to invest, but they are looking for partners once the project nears completion to “get it across the finish line,” Massie said. Massie said with the help of Bob Dickens, project manager with the Native Village of Unalakleet, they worked with architects on the design of the facility, earthwork was done by Dave Cunningham and Chuck Melin Construction is charged with the construction.
While the Massies have been working on the project, Unalakleet school’s assistant principal at the time, Jason Harris, was aching for a pool and with COVID in full swing in 2021, he said, he finally had time to pursue the idea further. 
As a former collegiate swimmer and somebody who had been swimming since the age of 5 years old in his hometown in Michigan, and having taught school in Galena, where they have a public pool, he said, I “didn’t ever see myself living without a pool again.” So when he and his family – his wife is from Unalakleet—moved back to the community from Galena, he pitched in to further the effort.
The goal for this year is to pour the cement foundation and construct the shell of the building. Next year, the 25-yard pool itself would be barged to Unalakleet and the hope is to have the facility ready to open its doors by winter of 2026, Harris said.
A well has been drilled last summer and will supply the water for the pool. However, details on what filtration system will be used or which entity will fund operation and maintenance have yet to be determined.
While Harris is envisioning kids, students and adults finding the joy of swimming in the future pool, he, too, shares the concern that people who live near the ocean and rivers don’t know who to swim. Even in warm weather, kids can be seen playing in the ocean, but they don’t really know how to swim, he said. Once a pool is in place, people of all ages can learn how to swim in a warm and controlled environment. Plus, he said, a warm pool out of the weather gives people in cold and windy winter days a place to go and exercise. And then of course, there are dreams of hosting swim competitions regionwide, and water safety classes for communities around the Norton Sound.
Massie said his motivation really is to build a facility where people can learn to swim, be better swimmers and enjoy the water, not only for Unalakleet but for the entire region.