Generous donations during the holiday season to restore Bangor’s Dakin Pool were evidence of enthusiasm for a facility that has been enjoyed by city residents for a half century. But the committee dedicated to ensuring the future of the pool needs a lot more help to complete its work.

Recently, Coca-Cola Bottling of Bangor, The Home Depot and the city itself pledged donations, while the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and local architects and engineers CES, Ames A/E and David Merritt have offered their time and labor to restore what was once a central summertime attraction in Bangor. Their offers are crucial for making the pool, which opened in 1956, once again the place where kids learned to swim or hung out with friends while parents caught up with neighbors. More recently, a place to turn off GameBoy and BlackBerry and relax for a couple of hours.

Plans for restoring Dakin Pool propose that the old bathhouse there be replaced, an equipment building be added along with a new walkway and repaired deck. A fence there would be relocated to include grass and shade in the pool area. The total cost of the renovation is expected to be $152,000, a sum that will take considerably more fund raising.

Fortunately, the reaction to the Bangor City Council’s debate over whether to remove the pool entirely attracted many more residents to the pool’s cause. In the summer of 2004, about 15 people a day visited the pool; Friends of Dakin Pool report that summer 2005 saw an average of 91 swimmers a day there. If many of those families donate, the fund will be filled rapidly.

The holiday season was good to the Friends of Dakin Pool. They’ll need still more help in the coming months for a facility that shown its worth in Bangor for decades. For more information or to donate, to www.bairnet.org/dakin or write to Friends of Dakin Pool, P.O. Box 2657, Bangor 04402.