CANTON, SD (KELO) — Instead of thinking of the cold and snow, many people would probably rather be near a pool.

The City of Canton has been without one for a few years now, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

After six long years and a lot of planning, the pool finally broke ground on Monday.

“They broke ground 2244 days after we started this project,” says pool committee chairman Todd Gannon.

Despite that time, Gannon says that they are on schedule for construction.

“It’s pretty standard once you award bids for mobilization, it takes a while for the construction companies that are finishing up other projects they’re working on and they shift over to yours. So we did expect it to be a fall start and then a winter construction project,” says Gannon.

Gannon says that over the years, the ten committee members have had their ups and downs in the planning process.

“There’s been setbacks. There’s been good days, there’s been bad days, but everybody just stuck together, hung together, had each other’s backs. And if you just stick together and you know, stay the course and work hard, you can accomplish great things,” says Gannon

Great things that local kids are celebrating.

“I am super excited cause we won’t have to travel far, we can just ride in our family’s car and truck and just come there,” says Aiden.

If everything stays on schedule, the pool should be ready for swimmers in 2024.

“We are hoping that the pool itself will be open early summer. The bath house may be the end of summer,” says Gannon.

The original pool was over 60 years old when it had an underground fire that wiped out the wires and pipes at the pool.