The swimming club of the Frankfurt Gymnasium Römerhof was not deterred by clouds and rainy weather. Just in time for the opening of the outdoor pool season in the Hausen district, the students plunged into the water on Friday afternoon. Later, they were also rewarded with a longer period of sunshine. "We have just forced the summer a bit with our opening today," said Boris Zielinski, managing director of the Bäderbetriebe Frankfurt, jokingly. However, a few dozen even earlier bathers were not deterred by raindrops and unpleasantly cool winds from opening the outdoor pool season directly at lunchtime.

Daniel Meuren

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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In Frankfurt, this traditionally happens in Hausen, but since last year it has not been done for the Easter weekend, but with a two-and-a-half-week delay. As a result, Hausen was not the first Hessian open-air swimming pool after the pool opened at nine o'clock in the morning in Wächtersbach.

Air dome dismantled in two weeks

The reason for the delay is the air dome, which transforms the outdoor pool into a temporary indoor pool in winter, which was even better received by swimmers in the second winter than at the premiere last year. "We had 50,000 visitors, 15 clubs and 35 schools in the pool," said the future Lord Mayor Mike Josef, who will remain responsible for the pools in his function as head of the sports department from now on. Josef pointed out that the temporary Hausen facility attracts more bathers than comparable indoor swimming pools. "The air dome concept has proven its worth," he said.

Also because of the good response, the air dome was not closed and dismantled until the Tuesday after Easter. "As in the previous year, our employees managed to ensure that the conversion back into an outdoor swimming pool went off without a hitch," says Zielinski. "That's why I'm very happy that we can now open for what will hopefully be a nicer weekend." Astonishingly, the outdoor area is already in great shape again. The lawn, which was previously hidden under the Traglugthalle, has already recovered through good care.

The other six municipal outdoor swimming pools are to follow from mid-May, if possible after a few warmer days, because the pool operators want to get by without using additional energy to heat the water to at least 25 to 26 degrees. Only for the comparatively small Hausen basin is an exception accepted at the beginning.

Staff: "By no means a matter of course"

However, the Riedbad in Bergen-Enkheim will by no means be able to open so early, as the functional buildings still have to be completed after the fundamental renovation of the bath. The bath is still besieged by excavators and other construction machinery. "It actually still looks wildly like a construction site. But we are also on schedule and hope to be able to open before the summer holidays," said Zielinski. He pointed out that Frankfurt is one of the very few German municipalities that are still in a position to enable regular and unrestricted operation of all their pools.

"This is by no means a matter of course. Most municipalities cannot find employees and simply cannot meet their staffing needs. We are fortunate that years ago we took over our employees from service providers again and tied them firmly to us. This gives us room for manoeuvre. Cities that inquire with service providers are currently not finding enough people." However, the pool companies could still use ten to 20 employees for the summer.

But even the future head of the city cannot simply bring them in. For the outdoor pool season, however, this does not bring any restrictions. "That's why I'm looking forward to an outdoor pool season with ice cream and fries," Josef said.