Sherwood's Indoor Pool Is Waiting on a New Boiler. Here's What Winter Swimming at Bill Harmon Looks Like Until It Arrives.

The pool at the Bill Harmon Recreation Center at 51 Shelby Road has eight lanes and runs 25 yards. It has a zero-depth ramp for anyone who can't use a ladder, three sizes of water weight sets, and a slide for the family swim crowd. The city calls it heated, and that word does most of the work from now until spring.

The equipment behind that word needs replacing. For the next stretch of cold mornings, swimmers depend on a boiler the city has publicly described as "limping along."

What the Council Approved on September 28

At its September 28, 2026 meeting, the Sherwood City Council voted 7-0 to amend the Bill Harmon Recreation Center budget and move money from reserves into building maintenance. The request was to replace the swimming pool's boiler. The council recap in the city's October 2026 "Talk of the Town" newsletter states the problem plainly: "The boiler will take around 12 weeks to arrive, and the existing boiler is limping along."

The money came out of reserves, and the vote passed without dissent. The recap describes the current unit as still running, though barely.

The Calendar Math

Twelve weeks from the September 28 vote is the week before Christmas. That is the earliest the new boiler could arrive, and only if it was ordered right after the vote. This post goes up in the fourth week of October, so roughly two months of that wait remain. Those two months cover Halloween, the end of daylight saving time on November 1, and Thanksgiving week.

Arrival and installation are two separate steps. The newsletter's recap gives a delivery estimate. It lists no installation date, no planned closure, and no word on water temperature while the old unit carries the load. Whether the pool closes for the swap is still an open question.

The city's last pool closure shows how much warning swimmers tend to get. On April 19, 2026, Sherwood posted a notice that the pool would close "tomorrow, April 20th" for maintenance and that the 8 a.m. water aerobics class was canceled. That closure had nothing to do with the boiler. It did come with one day's notice, posted on the city's live feed. Expect any installation closure to show up there the same way.

The Posted Schedule Doesn't Agree With Itself

The boiler isn't the only reason to check before you go. The city's pages for the center, the pool, and the downloadable pool schedule list different times for some of the same things:

The Saturday Aqua Zumba listing is almost certainly a morning class, since the center closes at 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The Friday conflict is harder to settle. A swimmer who reads the pool page and shows up at 7:30 on a Friday may find the building locked. None of these pages carries a date, so there's no way to tell which one was updated last.

Here's what the pages do agree on. The center opens at 5 a.m. on weekdays. Anyone 16 or older can swim laps during rec center hours, with no separate lap-swim block. For lap swimmers, the whole schedule comes down to whether the building is open.

How the Week Is Built

Within those hours, the pool runs on a regular weekly pattern.

• Water aerobics: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 8 to 9 a.m. It's included with a monthly or annual Bill Harmon membership.
• Aqua Zumba: Wednesday evenings, 6:45 to 7:30, plus the Saturday class above.
• Family swim: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. Children 15 and younger need a parent or guardian in the pool with them during these hours and must leave when that adult leaves.
• Private lessons: four 30-minute lessons, once a week, for $100, for children or adults.

The 8 a.m. aerobics class and the weekday family swim block are the two times most exposed to a cooler pool or a short-notice closure. Aerobics is the class the city canceled in April. Family swim brings in the youngest swimmers, and they get cold fastest. If you're starting four-week private lessons in November or December, ask how a closure would affect the remaining sessions before you pay the $100.

A few house rules matter more in winter. Swimmers need to bring dry clothes and a towel. Wet swimmers can't leave the pool area. The city's pool rules say suits are required by the Health Department. Only Coast Guard-approved life jackets are allowed, and inflatable arm floaties are not.

What It Costs to Ride Out the Wait

How you pay depends on whether you're committing to the winter or just testing the water. The Bill Harmon Recreation Center page lists these rates:

The top of the same page summarizes admission as "$5 with state-issued photo ID" without mentioning the $2 rate for ages 50 and up, so bring your ID and ask which rate applies.

With the boiler on a countdown, the month-to-month option makes the most sense. An adult who swims more than seven times a month comes out ahead on the $36 monthly membership versus $5 drop-ins. Committing to the $288 annual rate now means paying for whatever happens around the turn of the year. The 20-punch pass works out to $3.75 a visit. If you expect to miss a week or two, ask at the front desk whether punches expire.

If the Water Goes Cold

Two public indoor pools nearby can fill a gap. The Jacksonville Community Center has a heated, six-lane, 25-yard indoor pool. Jacksonville says admission fees vary and require a state-issued photo ID, so call ahead for the current rate and lap times.

In Little Rock, the Jim Dailey Fitness & Aquatic Center at 300 South Monroe Street has 25-yard indoor and outdoor pools. A city page updated in late September says the renovated indoor pool is open. Its lap-swim schedule and fee sheet are from 2024, so check current hours and prices before you drive across the river.

Neither pool is set up as a Bill Harmon replacement. For a lap swimmer who needs a few weeks of water in January, either one can keep a routine going.

A Winter Routine Built Around a Phone Call

Until the new boiler is in, a few habits keep a swim routine on track:

1. Call the center at 501-835-6893 before your first visit of the week, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, when the posted times conflict. Scott Stafford is the city's listed contact for the pool.
2. Check the live feed on sherwoodar.gov the night before an early class. The April closure was posted there one day ahead.
3. Stay on monthly billing until the city announces when the new boiler will go in.
4. Before you sign up for private lessons, ask what happens to unused sessions if the pool closes.

If you've got questions about the city facilities near home, or how a part of town fits the way your family actually spends its time, reach out to Caleigh Dumas. Let's Connect.