I've driven through Tea enough times to know it as the town where the highway widens and suddenly there are three new gas stations where there used to be cornfield. But last summer I needed to cool off after covering a story out that way, and I ended up at the Tea Swimming Pool on Brian Street — a municipal pool doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
It's outdoor, open Memorial Day through Labor Day, and when I showed up on a Wednesday afternoon in July, the place was packed with kids who clearly knew each other from school. The pool itself is nothing fancy — no lazy river, no water slides twisting into the sky — just a straightforward community pool with a diving board and lanes marked off for lap swimmers who were getting absolutely nowhere near the lanes because of the cannonball situation happening at the deep end.
What struck me was how *functional* it all felt. The lifeguards were teenagers who actually seemed to be paying attention. The bathhouse smelled like chlorine and sunscreen in that specific summer way that hits you with nostalgia whether you grew up here or not. Admission was something like five dollars. I sat on the concrete deck for twenty minutes, and three different families said hello to each other by first name.
The hours can be tricky — they're posted on the city website, but they shift based on weather and staff availability, which I get, but it's the kind of thing that'll have you driving out there only to find a locked gate. And it's Tea, so if you're coming from central Sioux Falls, it's a commitment — not a quick dip.
But if you live out this way or you're looking for a pool that isn't trying to be anything other than what it is, this works. It's a good place to be a kid in the summer.
— Grace
I sat on the concrete deck for twenty minutes, and three different families said hello to each other by first name.