CHICAGO — The Friday Morning Swim Club at Montrose Harbor has come to an end for the season. The early end of the third season comes days after the club’s last event was canceled, but hundreds still showed up.

Friday Swim Club founders Andrew Glatt and Nicole Novotny, who started the swim club two years ago, made the statement in an Instagram post on Tuesday.  

“We will not host any additional swims this summer due to last Friday’s events and the complex communication that is happening between the Chicago Parks District and the city,” Novotny said.

Hundreds of swimmers showed up to last Friday’s event after the swim club announced on social media that it would not be hosting the meet-up. 

“What happened last Friday isn’t what we envisioned for Swim Club, ever,” Glatt said.

According to the club’s founders, who were not present at Friday’s event, park district employees and Chicago police officers showed up while the jump was taking place.

“We weren’t present, but from what we were told, multiple parks district employees, CPD officers, seeking out people specifically with Swim Club gear, threatening to arrest them, or myself and Nicole, had we been there,” Glatt said. 

For the last two years, the Friday Morning Swim Club jumps have been taking place in the early morning hours when lifeguards are not present.

The Park District says daily swimming in the lake is allowed, but only from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, when lifeguards are on duty. Because of the schedule, the swim club’s jumps, which have been taking place at 7:10 a.m., have been going against the Chicago Park District’s rule.

“This is a complicated situation, it’s not a simple fix, like, ‘Get 10 lifeguards out there next week, and you guys are good,’” Glatt said. “This is not something that happens in 48 hours. There’s a lot of conversations to be had, a lot of work to be done. We care about this community, and we’re going to do whatever we can to work with the parks district and make this happen next year.”

Visit the Chicago Parks District Website for a full list of rules for the city’s beaches and details on swimming conditions. 

The founders of the club say that even though the Friday jumps have been canceled for the season, season three events will still take place.

“We love Swim Club and we see the value that it brings to so many, us included. So we are planning upcoming events that are free and focus on exactly what got us here in the first place, which is you guys,” Glatt said.

Visit the Friday Morning Swim Club website for details on upcoming season three events.