North Peninsula Recreation Service Area celebrates 50 years

Past and present members of North Peninsula Recreation Service Area leadership gathered Saturday at the Nikiski Pool to mark 50 years of a community monolith established in 1974.

NPRSA is a Kenai Peninsula Borough service area, a geographically limited and tax-supported entity that provides a government service, per borough code. Located in Nikiski, NPRSA operates the Nikiski Pool, Nikiski Community Recreation Center and other facilities. The service area also puts on annual community events like Family Fun in the Midnight Sun. The service area was established in 1974, with the Nikiski Pool being built and opened in 1975, according to scans of a Peninsula Clarion insert dated Oct. 23, 1975, and shared by the service area on Facebook.

On Saturday, dozens milled around outside — participating in activities, eating free food and cake or rotating through the line to the dunk tank to see just how soggy Pool Supervisor Nigel LaRiccia could get. Just as many were in the pool, taking the slide, cooling off in the water or heating up in the hot tub.

NPRSA Board Chair Stacy Oliva wasn’t able to complete her speech because of a technical issue, but on Facebook wrote that the 50 years of NPRSA are “testament to the strength, dedication, and vision of our community.” Nikiski taxpayers and other users support the NPRSA facilities, she wrote, and make them possible.

Oliva credited former Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member Jim Arness as “a driving force of innovation and invention” who helmed the effort to see the Nikiski Pool constructed. She noted that he was joined by others with similar vision who exemplify what a community can accomplish, calling for Nikiski residents to continue that spirit to see further growth and improvement in Nikiski.

“We can shape a future that honors our past while propelling us forward,” she wrote.

Peggy Arness, Jim’s wife, was present on Saturday to speak. She said that she and her husband had lived in the Nikiski area since “this part of the country was nothing but trees.” Jim, she said, always sought to see the area develop. The pair homesteaded in Nikiski, where Arness said she lives to this day, and she said Jim spent his time breaking trails, leading development of the Arness Dock in the 1960s, now called the OSK Dock.

After that, Arness said, Jim heard about schools being built around the peninsula with pools in them.

“So Jim decided that we needed to have a pool out here.”

He got on the borough assembly and saw construction start 50 years ago.

“I hope that every child that lives up here in North Kenai and Nikiski learns to swim in this pool,” Arness said. “I did.”

Recreation Director Eric Eleton said that his role with NPRSA only exists because of the leaders who held the position in the past and drove the service area to become what it has. He was joined Saturday by two previous directors, Rachel Parra and Karen Kester.

Kester said that countless people have contributed to the service area, that among the best things she was able to do in her time as director was hire some of them, like Nikiski Pool’s lead maintenance worker and current pool supervisor. She conceded that she didn’t hire Parra, but said she did keep her.

Parra said she was with NPRSA for 25 of its 50 years.

“It was amazing working here — working with the people and the community,” she said. “I think we’ve employed almost every kid from Nikiski High School across the last 30 years.”

NPRSA, Parra said, has seen thousands of local children through swim lessons, has gotten kids involved in sports and has seen them grow into members of the local community.

Eleton also opened the microphone up to the audience to share stories and memories.

James Knoebel said that as a child, he struggled to learn to swim, despite two years of trying. That was until they swam at a pool in Blackfoot, Idaho, where he took to it in 20 minutes. Knoebel’s father got the design for the pool, and the Nikiski Pool is built from that design.

Reporting by Idaho-based KPVI shows a pool with the Nikiski Pool’s distinct turtle shell roof, though lacking the waterslide, that was closed in the late 2010s when a ballot initiative to create a recreation district failed.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, said that the Nikiski Pool and NPRSA represent a community investment in providing a place for people to recreate and grow.

“It allows for so many great, healthy and happy things to happen right here on the North Road,” he said. “It is an amazing opportunity and amazing resource for all of us.”

More information can be found at “North Peninsula Recreation Service Area” on Facebook.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.