Kids jump into the deep end of the Tenino Quarry Pool in May. According to the National Weather Service, a heat advisory will likely be issued later in the week.
The biennial fundraiser Splash Bash for the Tenino Quarry Pool will be held 5 p.m. Saturday, May 21, in The Vault, located in Tenino.
Tickets for the event are $50 per person and can be purchased at Tenino Market Fresh, Iron Works, Scatter Creek Winery, Hedden’s Pharmacy, or by emailing splashbasht90@gmail.com.
The event will include dinner, entertainment as well as a live and silent auction.
Each year it costs $25,000 to $30,000 to operate and maintain the pool, Tenino Mayor Wayne Fournier said. The Splash Bash Committee donates about $10,000 a year to help cover pool operation costs.
“I would like to see it get to a place where those donations go to capital improvements,” Fournier said.
The city is looking at ways to more efficiently operate the pool and cut costs, he said. The fee to use the pool was also raised this past year to $4 for people who live outside the Tenino School District and $2.50 for those living inside the school district.
“You are not going to find a cheaper all-day activity for a family anywhere,” Fournier said.
The quarry pool gives the area a unique charm, said Christine Hartman, Splash Bash Committee volunteer. “This is a rare little place. I love it.”
The pool is more than 100 feet deep, Fournier said. No one knows what is at the bottom. Locals have created myths about what may exist down there, like an old steam engine or Fournier’s favorite — a giant frog/catfish — Tenino’s version of the Loch Ness Monster.
“I don’t think any of it is true,” he said. “Just to have local folklore is pretty cool.”
The pool itself draws in people from outside the Tenino area, Fournier said. The business community has responded by adding services that would appeal to people who are in the town for the day.
“Our outside users have just blownup,” he said. “That has been our biggest growing user group.”
The pool is a part of Tenino and the community’s shared history. The stone from the quarry made buildings in town and throughout the world. In the hole the quarry created, the pool was created.
“There is that shared experience that makes us a community,” Fournier said. “The products that come out of that void are part of our national story; now we get to swim in it.”
