The beach at Springs Brook Park will be open to the public from June 22 to Aug. 14, five hours a day, Tuesday through Saturday.
The Recreation Commission Wednesday approved rates for the season: $350 per Bedford family and $400 for each out-of-town household. The daily rates will be $5 per member’s guest and $10 for a walk-in. Registration begins on April 5.
Recreation Director Amy Hamilton noted that the picnic grove will be closed for the season and there will be no concession sales as Covid-19 precautions continue. But the spray pad will be operating.
Hamilton calculated that the cost for the full season will be about $111,000, compared to the pre-Covid full season budget of $170,000.
The director noted that the current cost model, first developed for last summer, has the department’s Summer Adventures day camp financing its own, separate swimming staff.
Summer Adventures will conduct three hours of morning swim lessons for children in grades 1 through 4, followed by open swimming that also will include fifth and sixth graders, until noon. Then the pond will open to the public until 5 p.m. Saturday hours will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The last summer the park was open was 2019, when 79 resident passes and 45 non-resident passes were purchased. Balancing expenses with projected revenue is always “an art, not a science,” said long-time commission member Ron Richter. It’s always a challenge. You don’t know how many are going to sign up. You hope to break even.”
Savings result from the shortened day because “we don’t have to pay two shifts,” Hamilton said. And with more people working at home, there won’t be as much of a demand late in the day. “The longer we can have the dock open for public swim, the better, because that’s what people want when they come in,” she said.
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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