Shady Grove pool reopening for another season
Area residents will soon be able to jump into the deep end again at Shady Grove park.
The mammoth pool in North Union Township is reopening this year after all, under the management of a new generation of the Tesauro family.
After 25 years, owners James Tesauro Jr. and his wife, Evelyn, decided to retire at the end of last season and had considered closing the pool and park.
But James Tesauro III, 49, and his wife, Toni, stepped up to run the attraction, while keeping their full-time jobs at Dynamic Materials and the Uniontown Hospital, respectively. Their son, James IV, a member of the Laurel Highlands High School swim team, will pitch in as head lifeguard.
James and Evelyn Tesauro said they are helping their son to open and run the pool. "After 25 years you don't stop," Evelyn Tesauro explained. James III said his three brothers, who grew up at the pool with him, may also help out.
Although Toni Tesauro noted "we started earlier in the year," to get ready for the swim season, opening day is likely to be delayed from the traditional Memorial Day Weekend.
Blame the unremitting rain, which has stopped the Teasuros from completing the painting of the pool floor.
On one recent day, as thunderclouds formed overhead, a small cement mixer used to fill cracks sat idle a few feet from the fountain in the shallow end of the drained pool. Buckets of paint were stacked up in the bathhouse building as the Tesauros waited for a break in the weather to spread the light-blue paint (it takes 215 gallons to cover this floor).
"We're waiting the rain out," said James Tesauro III.
It takes seven days for the paint to dry at Shady Grove, and another seven to fill the pool with 1.25 million gallons of water.
"We're not quite ready," the new owner acknowledged.
Once the largest swimming pool between Philadelphia and Chicago, according to James Tesauro Jr., the 300-by-185-foot reservoir is still impressive.
It occupies an even bigger place in the memories of generations of area residents.
Shady Grove first opened 97 years ago with a manmade lake. West Penn Power bought the park in 1930 in part to promote ridership on its former trolley line, which stopped at Shady Grove, and the lake was converted into a swimming pool.
The park included a half-mile long, $200,000 wooden roller coaster that burned to the ground in 1936. A large carousel and other rides operated until more recent years.
The park has continued as a popular spot for group picnics and the owners said they've called the regular customers to let them know that Shady Grove is available.
Once the maintenance work is completed, the Tesauros also have long-term plans, including an expanded game room. "We're hoping for a miniature golf course," James Tesauro III added.
"You have to upgrade," Toni Tesauro emphasized.
To celebrate the reopening, a craft show, free to exhibitors and visitors, is also planned for June 15.
The next generation of owners said the philosophy followed by James and Evelyn Tesauro that makes Shady Grove a family park would stay in place, including the policy of letting troops of Boy Scouts swim for free on selected occasions.
Swimmers anxious to make a splash at Shady Grove can check on the opening day of the pool by calling the park at 724-439-5630.
