After a One-Year Closure, Frog Pond Opens to the Joy of Everyone

Splashing at the Frog Pond is such a familiar sight of summer in the Boston Common that many residents can tend to overlook it as familiar summer scenery year in and year out.

However, like so many things, the fund of summer at the Frog Pond was taken away in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Frog Pond remained closed in 2020 and for skating in 2021, but the veil was lifted and the spray fountain turned on Thursday, June 24, as a Boston tradition was restored after a countdown by Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods and Acting Mayor Kim Janey.

South End youngster Collier Voight took the opportunity to talk to Acting Mayor Janey about the conditions of Blackstone Square – telling her he was scared of the dogs there and hoped she could bring in a fenced-off dog park. Voight said he plans to run for Council as soon as he’s 16 years old, if that’s allowed.
An enthusiastic group of children and elected officials celebrated the re-opening of the Frog Pond wading pool on Thursday, June 24, after a full one-year closure to wading and ice skating through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Frog Pond had not been open to wading since 2019, so a sunny June 24 offered a great reason to celebrate another reclaiming of joy taken away by COVID. Here, Acting Mayor Kim Janey joyfully pulled up her slacks and splashed with the kids in the wading pool on Thursday after it officially opened.

“We are so happy to be here and to re-open the Frog Pond after a year of not being able to use the Frog Pond because of COVID,” said Woods.

Janey said the Pond is something that has been a part of her family for four generations, at least.

“This is a wonderful day and a joyful day in our city, particularly given we’ve had a difficult time dealing with COVID-19,” she said. “We still have work to do with the vaccinations, but it’s because of that good work we’ve already done that we can be here and have this time of joy and revival. I played in the Frog Pond as a kid in the 1970s. I brought my daughter here in the summers when I was a single mother and I bring my grandchildren here now. There are at least four generations of my family that have enjoyed the Frog Pond. It is an important place for us to be able to cool off and have access to the water on these 90 degree days.”

A year-round recreational facility, the Frog Pond offers ice skating in the winter, a spray pool and supervised wading for youth in the summer, and a Carousel from spring through fall. The spray pool is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Labor Day. The facility is managed by The Skating Club of Boston and staffed by youth workers from the Boston Youth Fund. For further information, please call the Frog Pond at (617) 635-2120.

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