MADISON, Connecticut — Memorial day is typically one of the busiest days at state beaches, but it looked a little different this year.
A cloudy morning didn’t stop people from coming out to state beaches for one of the busiest beach days of the year. This year it looked a little different with some extra precautions in place.
“ I think we have to be very reasonable about this and enjoy your freedom but also be aware that it’s not over yet,” said Mary Barneby of Madison.
Beachgoers at Hammonasset State Park taking all the necessary precautions put in place by DEEP on this Memorial Day, which included keeping blankets 15 feet apart, and wearing masks when necessary. Capacity also limited at state parks across Connecticut.
While the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating Plenty of people still spent the day at the beach.
“Well, the weather said it was going to be in the 70s so we wanted to get to the beach now that things are starting to open up a little bit, but this is what we got,” said Kelly Corcoran of Manchester.
The new precautions put in place by DEEP not just for Memorial Day Weekend, but also the summer ahead.
“A lot of those rules are going to still be in place as we head into the summer season. When we were thinking about how this would work back in March we didn’t know how the public would respond this is a lot of change that we’ve asked people to follow and you know people did it, we all did this together,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.
Regardless of the weather, beach goers happy to be out of the house and enjoying the beach.
“ It’s great that they’re opening the beaches, I think we all have to be very thoughtful and careful making sure that we follow the guidelines and then we can have this. Otherwise, we will put ourselves right back in the same place we were.”
As for inland state parks, swimming areas there expected to be closed throughout the summer.
