Summer weather is arriving and Edmonton’s outdoor pools are starting to open for the 2026 season.
People can make a reservation online for any of Edmonton’s five outdoor pools to avoid lines during public swims, but this year, they’ll have to pay the day before their reserved time.
“Outdoor pools are a passion of Edmontonians, of council, of administration,” said City of Edmonton site coordinator and operations supervisor, Shauna Graham.
“When it’s hot and it’s sunny the people are jam-packed in. It’s partly why we went to the reservation system to allow people who can’t get their rate at opening to be able to ensure they can get access, just like a restaurant, later in the day.”
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Also new for 2026 – concessions will no longer be available at outdoor pools.
The city says it wasn’t seeing the sales to support managing the concessions across all five sites so people are now encouraged to bring their own food and empty water bottles or sealed drinks.
Instead, there will be vending machines at three of the pools —Mill Creek, Queen Elizabeth and Borden Natural Swimming Pool.
“See what the uptake is there, how it works with getting the vending people in to stock,” Graham said.
“If we run out during the day, we’ll track all of that, but we still are going with no outside drinks. So if you have your pre-bought drink, like a Slurpee or any of the coffee shops, we won’t allow that in — but if it’s factory sealed, you can bring it from outside.”
Crews are also preparing the city’s 78 spray parks.
Weather and air quality permitting, this is the opening schedule for the outdoor pools:
- Wîhkwêntôwin: May 20
- Mill Creek: May 23
- Queen Elizabeth: May 30
- Fred Broadstock: June 6
- Borden Natural Swimming Pool: June 20
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