Reservations for Portland’s Public Pools Have Reached Capacity

The agency is instead directing the sweaty masses to cool down in the city’s interactive water play fountains and splash pads.

29622822466_8cc023fa1c_k Swimming pool (Portland Parks & Recreation)

Any stragglers hoping to escape the hottest weather on earth today by taking a dunk in one of Portland’s newly opened public pools is going to have to look elsewhere for relief.

According to Portland Parks and Recreation, the city’s 11 public pools are at capacity for Sunday, June 27.

Ahead of this weekend’s historic heat wave, the Oregon Health Authority last week lifted pandemic-mandated capacity restrictions at pools, malls and movie theaters. In order to keep pool capacity at manageable levels, Portland Parks is requiring reservations—and those reservations are gone, at least for today.

The agency is instead directing the sweaty masses to cool down in the city’s interactive water play fountains and splash pads, which flow 11 am-7 pm daily. A full list can be found here. Multnomah County’s 24-hour cooling shelters remain in operation as well.

If you’re still hankering for a dip, you can try to find an available private pool for rent via Swimply, the hilariously named Airbnb of pools.

Related: We Went to Every Single Outdoor Public Pool and Jumped In. So Can You!


Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.