Best Places to Go Swimming in Bloomington-Normal – Our Top 5

The summer days are starting to get longer and hotter. Standing in front of your open refrigerator is only going to cool you down for so long. What you really need is a nice cool spot to swim and hang out. So, we put together a list of the top five places to go swimming in Bloomington-Normal.

Fairview Park

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Town of Normal

This newly renovated park is a water park jack-of-all-trades. It includes a nice open pool with a shallow end for the little ones, body and tube slides, as well a sand volleyball court and plenty of huge umbrellas to relax under. The park also offers some non-nautical features like a playground, a new skate park, and huge picnic shelter for getting together with your friends and family. Fairview Park’s seasonal hours are from 11am to 8pm daily.

Anderson Park

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Town of Normal

Anderson Park, much like Fairview, has a lot more than just a pool to offer. This park includes a large pool with a shallow and a deep end as well as a lap pool. Feeling more adventurous? They also have slides and a diving board. For those of you with younger children this park is perfect since it also includes an area designated for young children. The area includes a small slide, water fountains, and a very shallow pool to splash around in. The park also includes a baseball/softball diamond, tennis courts, a playground, and a picnic area. The water park’s seasonal hours are from 11am to 8pm daily.

Spray Parks

Photo by WBNQ

If you have little ones then these are the places to take them to cool them off and have a good time. Tipton Park (In Photo), McGraw Park, and Miller Park offers fun places for your young kids to hang out and enjoy the water. These parks have playgrounds set up with water running through them, water spouts shooting from the ground and fun little slides. These parks definitely beat running through the sprinkler in the front lawn.

Evergreen Lake

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Photo by WBNQ

Evergreen Lake, located in the Comlara Park camping ground, offers a wide variety of outdoor water activities. “The Beach” is what they call, a natural water play park, which is completely separated from the natural lake. The pool offers 2.5 acres of water and 4 acres of sand for playing or relaxing. If you looking to get out on the open water on the lake, you can take you boat out for the afternoon or you can rent one while your there. While you’re out on the lake if you’re feeling sporty you can also try your hand at fishing. No matter what you end up doing, spending the day at this lake gives you plenty of options to enjoy a nice summer day. The Beach is open noon to 5:30pm through August 8th.

Clinton Lake

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If boating and tubing are more your thing, then check out Clinton Lake. This lake offers 4,900 acres of cool, refreshing fun. They offer a stunning 1,000-foot soft, white beach for kids and adults to enjoy and cool off in the warm lake water. Another big park of the lake is boating and fishing. You can bring your own boat or rent one for the day. Check out a Facebook page from the boating community at Clinton Lake for even more details. The park also offers places to picnic as well has beautiful, shaded trail to go hiking through.