The newly renovated Rhodes pool will be open Labor Day weekend with a ceremony Saturday featuring free swimming and a demonstration of a surfing machine.
The event starts at 11 a.m. at 1860 S. Longmore Road in Mesa. It will feature a unique free-standing-wave pool for surfing and boogie-boarding dubbed Flowrider. Swimmers who take to the main pool for free swimming will have to dole out extra cash to catch a wave.
The pool's hours over Labor Day weekend will be Saturday starting with the ceremony, and Sunday through Monday, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Mesa is the first city in the Valley to offer Flowrider at a public pool. Riders wanting to play on the waves will need to pay an additional fee of $5 for children 17 and under and $10 for adults, plus watch a short safety video. Except on Saturday, admission to the pool is $1.75 for children 17 and under and $3.50 for adults.
Rhodes pool was built in 1978. In 1998, voters approved a half-cent quality-of-life sales tax to rebuild Rhodes pool. Now, Rhodes pool offers a zero-depth entry, a dive well, lap pool and Flowrider.
