Diversity of users makes Amazon Pool one special place

On a sweltering weekend summer day in south Eugene, Amazon Pool’s parking lot is a mix of bikes and scooters, luxury and modest vehicles, trucks – massive and smaller – and, however randomly, a notable mix of lawn care trailers. Locals join a snaking line into the outdoor property with three sparkling pools, water slides, a diving platform and boards, a hot tub, concessions, lap lanes and interactive play features.

Amazon Pool is the place to beat the heat. And although a throwback – open since 1957 – it’s impressive.

But more than anything, what makes this place iconic is its users – people from every socioeconomic rung, every walk of life showing up for fitness or fun in the sun and water. It’s remarkable to see so many cultures inside the perimeter of a fence – splashing, basking on towels, playing and people watching with the euphonic, rhythmic sound of lap swimmers stroking their way across the pool.

Together, the diversity of Amazon Pool users makes it a force. The question is, do users realize their power?

Their combined sway at public hearings will be needed if the pool is, again, at risk of closing when Eugene City Council strings together its next budget in coming years.

Because that risk of closure is foreseeable.

Like most municipal pools, Amazon Pool’s operations are subsidized, meaning facility rates and staffing costs exceed the revenue it generates. In fiscal year 2025, the pool made $523,958 in revenue with $1,300,310 in expense, for a negative impact of $776,352 on the city’s general fund, according to Ian Campbell, content and community engagement manager for library, recreation and cultural services in Eugene.

No matter that the pool is well-loved with 45,785 visits, averaging about 1,477 a day in July alone. Single-visit prices are reasonable at $5.50 for youth (ages 3-17); $6 for adults (18+); and $5.50 for seniors (60+). And the family price of $18 for up to five members is hard to beat.

In 1998, voters passed a measure to renovate Amazon Pool in 2001, doubling its capacity from 535 to 1,048. Over the years, the pool has had upgrades and repairs. But, unlike Echo Hollow Pool and Sheldon Pool, Amazon Pool has not benefited from larger investments specifically targeting those two, made possible through bond and levy funding.

In June 2024, Council amended Eugene’s code to allow the monthly stormwater fee to fund parks and open spaces. So its reach includes Amazon Pool.

Now, the city is relying on an approved 18% uptick to the stormwater fee, which will generate $4.7 million annually through 2031 to help cover costs for the pool, the Sheldon Community Center, the Greenhill Humane Society contract, and Sunday and Monday downtown library service.

Council approved the increase in May to help close the $11.5 million gap in Eugene’s two-year budget, adopted June 23. (The average household will pay roughly an extra $3.50 each month in stormwater fees. Commercial building owners will pay $47 a month; owners of large commercial buildings could pay up to $670 a month.)

Despite sparing Amazon Pool and other city services, though, critics described the fee increase as a de facto tax. Not an appropriate fix to solve Eugene’s chronic budget issues.

Not everyone splashing around Amazon Pool knows how close this gem of a facility came to the chopping block. How public support will be needed at sparsely attended hearings, how the pool’s range of users must rally in coming years until the city finds a permanent solution to its financial woes.

But in these dog days of summer, the politics of it all feels far off. Besides workouts and playfulness in each direction, a user can experience solitude even when the pool is packed. A little personal space on a patch of grass, a spot along the pool’s wall or in the range of a spraying fountain, where busyness melts away.

Because on a sunny day at Amazon Pool, the living is easy.

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