McCarren Park Pool Party Poopers Force Early Close
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| Sam Horine for the Village Voice |
On Thursday, after three years of renovations that cost over $50 million, the "hipster playground" known as McCarren Park Pool re-opened with a cutting ceremony led by Mayor Bloomberg and hundreds of heat refugees. (We brought our camera there, too).
Back in the good ol' days, the Pool was a huge attraction in the area and, in recent years after the basin was emptied of H20, it became a hotbed for concerts. And how cool it was to see a show in an empty public pool.
Alas, the water has returned, just in time for this heat wave.
The Hozziner remarked that the new addition to Williamsburg "has an illustrious past and a bright future." But, after last night's events, we're not so sure about the second part of that statement... It looks like the heat might be getting to a few pool-goers' heads.
At around 6pm last night, an "unruly crowd" showed up at the pool and started wreaking havoc. Apparently, a bunch of teens and the lifeguards dueled it out in what was described by one tweeter as a "gigantic brawl." The fight broke out when one pool-goer did a backflip and then proceeded to attack the lifeguard that came over to reprimand the swimmer.
People started elbow dropping from the lifeguard stands, punches were thrown and the Greenpoint-Williamsburg border erupted at the seams. We assume it looked something like this:
Although there were no serious injuries, the pool was forced to close an hour early soon after. We'd say that was a solid first weekend for the Pool, though. We didn't think the residents of the area had it in them.
Way to go, guys.
[jsurico15@gmail.com/@JSuricz]
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