Three generations of a family now belong to a place the first generation was once told they were not welcome. As an interracial couple raising a family in Butler-Tarkington, Fred and Ellen Rice didn’t set out trying to change The Riviera Club. In 1980, they just wanted a place to swim.

Open-water swimming has a remarkable history at The Rivi. By 1960, Riviera Club swimmers had won six national long-distance, open-water team championships dating back to 1941. One of the most accomplished was Donna Graham, who learned to swim at The Rivi when she was just four years old.

Rivi Fall Break Camp returns October 12 through 16, giving kids ages three to 10 a full week of activities, games, swimming and time with friends — and giving parents a pretty convenient answer to the question, “What are we going to do with the kids all week?”

When Everyone Swims follows a young black swimmer who wanted to compete but discovered his new didn’t have a swim team. So he and his mother helped create one. Their story illustrates something swimming families may never consider: access to swimming has never been evenly distributed.

For many families, the outdoor pool is their introduction to The Rivi. Summer makes the appeal easy to understand: swimming, friends, dinner by the pool and kids asking if they can come back again tomorrow. But look beyond the pool to what the Cataldis were really hoping to find: more quality family time.

The Rivi is where children learn to swim, join games, meet people and gradually venture farther from their parents. The club gives children something increasingly difficult to find: a place where they can practice being independent without being entirely on their own.