Weekend Gets A Slow Start At The Beaches

FALMOUTH- Despite a washout on Saturday, the Labor Day weekend proved a success for Falmouth’s public beaches.
In total, Saturday through Monday, 735 cars parked at Old Silver Beach, said Beach Superintendent Donald L. Hoffer.
Only 18 cars parked there on Saturday, Mr. Hoffer said. “It was a miserable day.”
Sunday and Monday made up for it, however, with 419 and 298 people respectively at Old Silver, he said.
Those numbers are down from Labor Day weekend last year, when about 100 more cars, a total of 823 cars, parked at Old Silver, Mr. Hoffer said.
Though Old Silver is the gauge used by the Falmouth Beach Department in order to determine how busy the beaches are, Mr. Hoffer said that all the beaches were crowded Sunday, which he called “a banner day everywhere.”
Overall, the number of “day-trippers,” or people who pay to park at the beach for the day, as opposed to buying a town beach sticker, rose slightly over last year.
In 2007, 21,215 customers paid to park at Falmouth’s beaches, but this year that number was slightly higher, 21,373, Mr. Hoffer said.
Mr. Hoffer attributed the increase to the “beautiful weather” that prevailed through most of the summer.
“The economy did not keep people from the beaches,” he added.
Today is the first day that the beaches will be unattended, meaning there are no lifeguards on duty, but parking is free, Mr. Hoffer said.
Next weekend, Old Silver and possibly Chapoquoit Beach will have parking attendants for crowd control “only if the weather is beautiful,” Mr. Hoffer said.