Many communities have town beaches, with access restricted to just residents.

Providence has six pools, the most of any municipality in the state.

Cranston's pool has been closed since the pandemic.

PROVIDENCE – Shouts of encouragement, a few complaints about cheating and a lot of splashing marked the annual end-of-summer swim meet put on by the Providence Recreation Department for more than 200 children and staff at the Madeline Selim Rogers Recreation Center in Providence.

Swim meets have been a fickle thing for Providence, which is one of the few Rhode Island communities that still has public pools and, in fact, has the most public pools in the state. Starting in the 1950s, swim meets were originally a competition between Federal Hill and South Providence. They expanded in the 1

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