Sun lovers, grab your towels and head to the lakefront — Chicago beach season officially kicks off Friday and runs through Labor Day weekend. The Chicago Park District expects 20 million people will hit the city’s 31 beaches this summer, said Park District spokeswoman Marta Juaniza.
Meghan Early of Lincoln Park said she plans to be there with her girlfriends this weekend. Early said she and her friends have been talking about frequently visiting North Avenue Beach since winter.
“It’s definitely one of the best parts of summer,” said Early, 27. “It’s a good time to hang out with your friends, check out some good eye candy and soak up some sun.”
One beach activity Early won’t participate in is swimming in the lake because “it just kind of freaks me out because some days you can swim in it and some days you can’t because of bacteria.”
Heat, excessive rain, and sea gull waste can cause high bacteria counts and subsequent swimming bans and beach shutdowns.
Richard Whitman, chief of the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station at the U.S. Geological Survey, said rainfall, the amount and duration of cloudiness, sea gull activity and algae accumulation will determine beach conditions this year.
“Every year seems to be rather unique,” Whitman said. “I would say among other beachfronts, [Chicago is] average to cleaner. We have nice beaches all throughout the Chicago crescent, from Chicago through Indiana.”
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tswartz@tribune.com
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Sandy and smoke-free
Through Sept. 1, the city’s lakefront beaches will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., said Chicago Park District spokeswoman Marta Juaniza. Park district workers were busy Thursday completing off-season maintenance and cleaning the beaches for opening day, Juaniza said, including combing the sand so the sun could bleach it clean.
The biggest change for the 2008 season will be the city’s new beach smoking ban, approved by park district commissioners last October. People caught smoking within 15 feet of a city beach can be fined up to $500. Park officials hope the ban will reduce litter on beaches and protect beachgoers from secondhand smoke. [ TRIBUNE ]
