Escape, the Newtown Athletic
Club’s outdoor bar and resort, has
reopened after a fire earlier this
month. The building housing the
laundry room caught fire late at
night on Sept. 8.
Sean McCaulley, the clubs’ director
of facilities, was on premise
that night and said “it was an unfortunate
accident, but luckily no
one was hurt. The fire department
was at the scene within minutes
and did a great job getting the fire
under control quickly.”
The adjacent buildings are not
damaged despite sharing a roof.
The outdoor restaurant has a limited
menu and a full working bar.
Family locker rooms and most of
the individual bathrooms are back
in operation.
Escape remained closed until all
surrounding areas were cleaned
and repaired to reopen in a safe
and operational state. The bar
opened different parts of the
outdoor facility in phases. By
Sept 15, the outdoor was opened
only for sun bathing. The outdoor
pools were fully operational and
safe for swimming by Sept 20.
The facility is currently being
powered by generator, and gas
heat has been restored to the facilities’
pools. The facility is known
for being one of the first outdoor
pools to open, as well as one of
the last pools to close for the
season. The NAC plans to keep
the trend going, and hopes to keep
the heated pools open until late
October or mid-November. The
main entrance desk of the laundry
building has been boarded up and
barricaded for safety. Members
are asked to bring their own towels
due to the laundry room fire
burning most of their inventory.
The facility completely reopened
on Sept 23 with much
praise from its membership base.
The facility finds it important
that the quality and value of the
memberships were not affected
during this time. Many members
join the facility mainly for the
outdoor facility. Escape’s management
worked tirelessly to get
the facility back up and running.
The facility had a grand reopening
event called Up in Smoke.
Escape opened to general public
in on Saturday without guest fees
to help celebrate the reopening.
Family and friends all gathered
to enjoy the warm weather and
the outdoor pools. The facility
made sure all outdoor activities,
including the two water slides and
children’s fountain, were in full
operation.
Up in Smoke was a large
event that is aimed at members,
as well as the public. The club’s
goal to turn the negative situation
was a huge success. Members and
family from all over came and enjoyed
the facility for the weekend.
Sunday hosted a fantasy football
league to enjoy the outdoor televisions
on, and the plans to continue
projecting games on a 200’ screen
for Thursday night Eagles games.