Elaine Stevenson came dressed to swim.
For Stevenson, a senior citizen from Frayser, the grand reopening of Bickford Aquatic Center on Thursday, June 4, was not just another city ribbon-cutting. It was a chance to get back into the water, reconnect with friends and resume a routine that, for many residents, is as much about health and community as it is about recreation.
“I love aerobics — water activity, communicating with other people,” Stevenson said. “We have good fun in the pool.”
After being closed for renovations since September 2024, Bickford Aquatic Center returns one of the city’s most important public swimming facilities to service just as summer begins and Memphis Parks officials are emphasizing swim lessons, water safety education and safe recreational options for families.
Located at 235 Henry Ave. in North Memphis, the indoor aquatic center is part of the larger Bickford Park and Community Center campus, which includes a community center operated by Oasis of Hope, a pavilion, playground, outdoor basketball court and softball field.
Memphis Parks Director Justice Bolden said Bickford’s reopening had been a priority from the time he stepped into the role.
“Bickford Aquatic Center closed for renovations in September of 2024,” Bolden said. “My first day on the job, June of 2025, I was made aware that reopening of the pool was a priority. And so what we did, Memphis Parks, we worked together with the community and with the contractors to make sure that we could push to get this pool back online for the start of summer 2026.”
Not Your Average Community Pool
The reopening also restores a facility that Bolden described as unique in the city’s public pool system.
“Essentially, this is the largest public pool in the city,” Bolden said. “This is the only public pool of its kind in the city of Memphis.”
Bickford includes a 25-yard competition pool, a diving well and a deep-water area, along with a shallow, zero-entry area and accessibility features for swimmers with mobility needs. Bolden said those features make the facility useful for competitive swimming, swim team practice, water aerobics, lap swimming and water safety instruction.
Bolden said the facility has long served multiple generations and multiple needs — from water aerobics and lap swimming to swim teams, swim meets and lifeguard training.
That workforce development piece matters, Bolden said, because aquatic centers do more than give residents somewhere to swim. Through lifeguard training and other programs, they also give young people a pathway to job skills and summer employment.
“There are so many opportunities that are provided by this pool, especially when it comes to work opportunities,” Bolden said.
A Visible Return on City Investment
Mayor Paul Young said the reopening offered a tangible example of what city budget debates are meant to produce.
“It’s difficult to really see the fruit of what you’re talking about until you come to an opening like this,” Young said, “and you see that all of the debate, all the dialogue, is about opening up a space where our community is going to be able to have a good time, enhance their quality of life, create memories for themselves, for their kids or as seniors, and just come out and have a good time.”
Young said the city invested about $2 million in the project. He also credited residents who continued pressing the city to reopen the facility, including Cynthia Dickerson, a longtime swim coach in the area.
“I had a conversation with Ms. Cynthia Dickerson, who has been a swim coach in this area for many years,” Young said. “She was just telling me that this facility is one of the best facilities in the city for training young people.”
For Young, the center’s return is about both recreation and life-changing opportunities.
“It’s really important to have facilities like this, because this can be life-changing,” Young said. “Whether it’s someone learning how to swim, and then later in life they are safe around water, or someone who learns how to compete as a competitive swimmer, and they’re able to go to college based on their skills and talents that they learn right here in the facility that the city has opened up.”
Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas, who represents District 7, said Bickford’s return reflected residents’ persistence and the value of collaboration between the community, the council and the administration.
“I remember when I used to frequent Bickford pool with my little brother, as he was on the swim team for years over here in Bickford,” Easter-Thomas said. “Just learning about what an asset this is in our community and our city — we don’t have many pools of this size in our city.”
Easter-Thomas said Bickford’s location and size make it a major amenity not only for Uptown and North Memphis, but for residents across the city.
“This is what your tax money is important for,” Easter-Thomas said. “To pour back into the people who need it the most — us, our neighbors, our community.”
Open Swim
Memphis Parks’ online listing for Bickford Aquatics Center shows open swim Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with lessons from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The city notes that there may be limited or no availability during lessons and that all pools are cleared 30 minutes before closing.
Swim lessons are listed at $25 for a 10-lesson program for children ages 5 to 17 and $48 for a 10-lesson adult program.
Those lessons are part of the broader summer safety message city officials and residents emphasized at the reopening: Pools are fun, but knowing how to swim can save lives.
Stevenson said she learned to swim as a girl at Douglass Community Center, taught by her brothers. Decades later, she still sees swimming as a skill every child should have.
“This is very important to learn how to swim,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got so many kids that’s drowning. And if they knew how to swim, they probably have a better chance of not drowning.”
She also said the reopened center gives young people another option during the summer months.
“A lot of kids that don’t know how to swim, they can learn how to swim,” Stevenson said. “It’s just so much that they can do here, instead of just playing in the streets. They can come here and do a lot of things.”
Bolden said Memphis Parks is looking toward a busy summer, with swimming lessons at Bickford, community center children visiting the facility and additional water safety opportunities through the city’s partnership with the YMCA.
“We’re looking forward to a really fun summer,” Bolden said, and “quite a bit of water safety education.”
For Stevenson, the reopening means getting back to something she missed.
“It’s been two years since the pool’s been closed, and everybody’s been struggling, trying to do things to keep up,” she said. “But they’re so excited that it’s back open.”
Now that Bickford is back, Stevenson already has her plan.
“I can start out with my pool, and then do everything else afterward,” she said.
