Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke brought a special guest to Monday night’s Evasville City Council meeting in a push to secure financing for the Deaconess Aquatic Center.
The crowd stood up and cheered when the council announced its vote tally, and Lilly King and Mayor Winnecke shook hands and gave high-fives to the people around them.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and Evansville native was at the meeting to convince council to issue the bonds needed to build Lloyd Pool’s replacement.
King spoke about her time training at Lloyd Pool when she was younger. “Those rusty pipes, those unusable bathrooms, the pool, which I remember at 8 years old people covered with algae at the bottom, it’s no place someone needs to grow up or have a positive experience at,” she said.
After the meeting, she took pictures with young local swimmers. She said in a press conference she’s glad to know the pool they’ll train in is better than the one she grew up with.
