My sincere appreciation and congratulations to the community leadership who worked for and supported the very special relationship for the establishment of the La Crosse YMCA to administer the summer swim program for the Bigley Pool in Viroqua.

I am a regular lap swimmer at the Bigley Pool and often take my grandson there for a time to frolic in the pools refreshing waters. Viroqua and the Driftless Region should be especially grateful to Dr. Bob Knadle, Viroqua’s public school district administrator, for his visionary and decisive leadership in breathing new life into what many thought was the Bigley Pool’s last days. Truly the pool is a unique place and is one of the community’s crown jewels and worthy of a broadly-based financial and organizational support. Unbelievable that a small rural community could have such a facility attached to it’s high school and have its future status in doubt after the too brief YMCA summer programs.

There is no doubt a community swimming pool is a financial and administrative project. It should be viewed as much more than a part-time one-use recreational resource. A community swimming pool could be a multilevel human resources development facility. The Bigley Pool could be a place of not just fun, games and swimming lessons but a place of learning water safety, physical rehabilitation but also physical fitness and competitive sports. An active and assertive marketing plan based on citizen support with full knowledge of the operational and administrative costs and operation could make the Bigley Pool a feasible operation for the long term.

What is needed now is for the community leadership at all levels to support the Bigley Pools with a careful analysis and positive vision to begin to expand it’s unique features into new areas and with new participants.

All of the schools in the area could use the facility in the formation of an active competitive swim team, physical fitness and water aerobics. Also the facility could be a part of an expansion of the excellent fitness and rehabilitation facilities of the Viroqua area.

In this year of the Olympics it is no time to let the Bigley Pool dry up.

Save the Bigley!

Hank Deutsch

Viroqua

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