Five decades have passed, and prices have changed — the day rate is now $2.50. But townsfolk here remain as proud of the pool as they were when Erwin cotton mills built it in 1949.

On Saturday, Cooleemites big and small turned out by the dozens to celebrate the pool’s 50th anniversary.

Still the only public swimming pool in Davie County — and the only Olympic-sized facility in a three-county region — the Cooleemee pool remains the town’s best summertime draw.

Lynn Rumley, for one, can’t get enough. One of the organizers of the golden anniversary celebration, Rumley even credits the pool with her arrival in town some 15 years ago.

“The pool’s one reason I moved here. Well, that’s the one reason my daughter consented to moving here,” she explained as she sat at a covered picnic table and dozens of children splashed in the massive pool nearby.

Bivins, the town’s new recreation director, is one of many Cooleemites who remember the awesome effect the new pool had in 1949. Before kids could soak in television, soaking in a pool was the best option for summer, he explained.

“You couldn’t believe the kids,” Bivins said, remembering back when he was 11 and the pool first opened. “It would be so full you could hardly move.”

Back then, it cost a dime to swim and sunbathe all day. These days, pool staff hired by the town charge $2.50 for an all-day pass, or $125 for a family pass and $65 for an individual pass.

Through the years, Bivins was one of many townsfolk who fought to keep the pool open. The mill abandoned the effort in the late ’60s, but Bivins and a group of determined residents formed the Cooleemee Recreation Association to keep it open.

One of 16 honored Saturday for their commitment to the pool, Bivins remembers working the third shift at a mill in Kernersville only to return home to help run the pool and the town’s other recreation programs.

One night, a buddy of Bivins’ who lived across the street from the pool called him at work to complain about a group of kids who had jumped the fence and were swimming in the pool.

Bivins raced back to town and with headlights turned off, drove up to the pool. When he snuck up to the fence, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“There were 20 to 25 people swimming in the nude,” he said, hardly containing a laugh. “It was funny, because I couldn’t believe 25 people were climbing over the fences nude with all that barbed wire.

“I caught two of them down over there,” he added, pointing to a spot a hundred yards or so from the pool. The teen-age boy and his female companion were more than a little bit embarrassed, Bivins said.

“He said, ‘Mr. Bivins, how ’bout not looking. Cause she is in the nude.’ ”

Although Bivins obviously frowns on such goings-on, he could not — when pressed — deny he’d ever taken a midnight swim “au natural.’’ He just smiled and shook his head.

On Saturday, the town also honored past recreation directors — the late Richard Pierce, Luke King, Fred Pierce and Charles Biedler. Other Cooleemee residents honored for their role in keeping the pool open are: Katherine Spargo, Bivins, Gail Bivins, Grimes Parker Jr., Bob Jordan, Judy Webb, the late Bob Webb, Nina Athey, the late Bob Athey, Mike Alexander, Grady Spry Jr. and Russ Spry.

The Cooleemee pool contains approximately 265,000 gallons of water and costs the town about $21,000 a year to run. Proceeds from the gate brought in about $18,000 last year, according to Bivins.

The pool hasn’t changed much in 50 years, except that its under-water lighting system was filled with concrete and filters are replaced periodically. The last filter change — little more than a week ago — shut down the pool for eight days and cost $2,400, Bivins said.