Teens in flip-flops and brightly colored bathing suits sauntered past the temporary gatehouse at the entrance to Sunrise Beach in north suburban Lake Bluff on Monday, their hair wet from the Lake Michigan surf. Two Lake Bluff Park District employees, masks on, kept a tally and checked in visitors. On the beach below, a young girl wearing pink goggles bobbed in the waves as widely spaced families and friends enjoyed a cool lake breeze.
With Illinois in phase four of coronavirus regulations, the park in Lake Bluff is among the many Illinois beaches and pools now open, with capacity and social distancing restrictions, after being shuttered because of the pandemic. When Illinois entered phase four on Friday, the Illinois Department of Health issued guidelines for swimming pools, water parks, splash pads and beaches, essentially allowing locations to open to a maximum 50% capacity with safety protocols in place.
In Lake Bluff, the beach reopened for swimming Saturday, a welcome outlet for many, said Jim Lakeman, the superintendent of recreation, facility and safety services for the Lake Bluff Park District.
“People have been wanting to get down there to the beach and they have been wanting to swim,” Lakeman said. “Everyone is having a good time.”
Sunrise Beach, free to residents and open to others for a fee, can safely fit three “pods” of 50 people over the stretch of sand, Lakeman said, with plenty of room for visitors to remain socially distant. The Park District blocked one entrance, installed a hand-washing station and a gatehouse by the locked gate at the top of the bluff road to keep track of numbers and prevent overcrowding.
While suburban beaches have opened, Chicago’s iconic beaches remain officially closed. But “closed” has often been more of an idea than an ironclad rule recently, especially with the sultry summer weather during the final days of June.
Scores of beachgoers flocked to Montrose Beach on Monday. Couples, friends, and families lay on blankets and beach towels in the sand. Dozens played in the water, despite the conspicuously empty lifeguard chairs. A man wearing a straw hat pulled an ice cream cart across the sand.
Farther south at Oak Street Beach, two women stood knee-deep in the water while others played in the sand.
An official reopening date for the city’s beaches has not yet been set.
The Chicago Park District reiterated Monday that Chicago beaches remain closed under executive order of the city’s health department. Red flags are displayed and lifeguards are not assigned. Over the weekend, the Park District said park security and Chicago police officers removed people from beaches who violated the order.
“For their own safety and the safety of others, it is imperative that the public respects the executive order,” Park District spokeswoman Michele Lemons said in an emailed response to questions. “… The Chicago Park District continues to work closely with the Chicago Department of Public Health to determine when beaches can open safely.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no evidence the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, water playgrounds or recreational waters like Lake Michigan. But epidemiologists caution that it can still spread between close-together people, especially those waiting in lines or sitting near each other at the pool or beach.
With the city restrictions still in place, a patchwork of suburban lakefront locations and pools began to welcome swimmers, with others slated to open in the coming days. In addition to Lake Bluff, where the pool will open July 1, other North Shore municipalities opened their beaches along Lake Michigan. Evanston planned to open its swimming beaches for pass holders July 1.
The pent-up demand for swimming left many municipalities and park districts scrambling to safely accommodate water-craving guests. Managers rushed to staff splash pads — open by appointment only — and water parks prepared for the increased need to disinfect communal areas, workers said.
At the Glenview Park District, online registration started Saturday for open public swim, and by Monday morning, all the slots for the first week were sold out through July 3, spokeswoman Jena Johnson said. Lap swimming began over the weekend, while special restrictions substantially reduce capacity to 100 people for each three-hour open swim.
Officials had planned to open this week, but had just hours to finalize plans because the Illinois Department of Public Health issued specific guidelines Friday, Johnson said.
“It was quite a scramble,” she said. “The demand has been very high. Everyone is eager to get back into the pool.”
Lounge chairs and life vests were only available by rental. Locker rooms were available for changing, but lockers and showers were closed, and the facility was open only to residents and season pass holders.
“We’re trying to open capacity slowly, to make sure everyone stays safe,” Johnson said.
Heidi Stolt, the recreation aquatics supervisor for the Crystal Lake Park District, has been anticipating the move to phase four, putting her far ahead of the game, she said. The Park District in the far northwest suburb manages two beaches, Main and West.
Main Beach will open on July 6 and will be capped at a maximum 365 people, which represents half the maximum capacity for swimmers.
The date isn’t an accident, she said. With fireworks and Crystal Lake’s annual Lakeside Festival canceled, Stolt’s team thought better of opening the beach on a holiday weekend and instead chose July 6.
They also are holding off opening West Beach until they’ve had a chance to evaluate how things are working at Main Beach. She expects that may take a few weeks.
“We’re going to get a week or two under our belts and see if there’s a need. We don’t know exactly what the community wants,” she said.
In Yorkville at Raging Waves, which bills itself as the state’s largest water park, reopening plans are still in the works, according to Brad Donati, marketing manager.
“Along with our current safety measures at the park, we are working to finalize our reopening plan with IDPH to make sure we provide a safe experience for our guests and employees,” Donati said in an email.
In addition to safety considerations, suburbs must take into account financial realities of opening facilities under the new guidelines.
Pools are expensive to operate even in pre-pandemic times but can generate much-needed revenue. Arlington Heights sold $250,000 in annual swim passes earlier this year. Much of that was for a new indoor pool that remains temporarily closed due to the pandemic.
Pioneer Pool in Arlington Heights, which has five outdoor neighborhood pools, opened Friday to high demand for lap swimming, said Steve Neill, superintendent of recreation.
“People were thrilled and excited to get back in the water and swim,” he said.
Arlington Heights’ Recreation Pool was scheduled to open July 6 to residents only while officials figure out whether they can open other pools under the new state guidelines.
In addition, more than 600 children were scheduled to start competitive swim classes Monday, though afternoon storms postponed those sessions.
Public pools were directed to follow state guidelines limiting capacity to 50%, with no wave generators, and requirements that visitors wear masks whenever they are not swimming. Staff members must sanitize shared equipment between each use.
But for some, the curveball of the coronavirus has led officials to decide to keep facilities closed for the summer. In Northbrook, for instance, the Village Board considered a plan for reopening with special precautions, but members voted to close the pool for the season.
Naperville’s Centennial Beach also will stay closed for the summer.
The beach, a former quarry, would not be able to open until the middle to end of July, after it is drained, cleaned and refilled with clean water, Naperville Park District Executive Director Ray McGury said. The season typically ends around Labor Day, he said.
For those weeks of operation, McGury estimated the cost to clean and refill the beach would run more than $40,000.
“While we are willing to take a loss to bring that enjoyment to our community, I have to be rational about this,” he said.
Centennial is licensed as a beach and, as such, was not able to open during phase three of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan, which allowed only lap swimming, diving and select other uses, beach officials said in a statement. They had still sought permission from DuPage County and the state to open because of the nature of the beach, which includes chlorination of the water but were denied, the officials said.
McGury said he was frustrated because he thought Centennial Beach was well equipped to handle COVID-19 precautions. It’s a large, open space where people can maintain distance, and beach staff could enforce distancing rules, he said.
“It’s unfortunate, but I understand the IDPH wanted to make sure they had their requirements in order.”
This summer is believed to be the first in the beach’s history that it will remain closed for an entire season, park district officials said.
In Aurora, the outdoor Phillips Park Family Aquatic Center and Splash Country Waterpark operated by the Fox Valley Park District and the city of Aurora are other attractions that will remain closed. But an indoor lap pool run by the Park District has already opened with new social distancing precautions, and two other indoor pools — one therapeutic, one recreational with a waterslide — are slated to reopen. Three outdoor splash pads began opening Monday, and social distancing ambassadors will be on hand to promote safety, Park District Executive Director Jim Pilmer said.
The outdoor aquatic centers carry hefty costs associated with lifeguards, which are provided by an outside agency, Pilmer said. Officials had to decide before May 1 whether to honor their contract with the agency in the hope pools might be able to open or break the contract and keep pools closed for the season, he said.
Indoor pools are staffed in-house, buying the Park District more time to make a decision.
Capacity at the indoor pools is limited and reservations are required. Staff members are required to wear masks and have undergone training on social distancing guidelines, Pilmer said.
So far reservations for the lap pool have not filled, he said.
Pilmer said his agency has an obligation to promote public health and will take necessary precautions. At the same time, he wants to meet the needs of the community.
“With the guidelines coming out in phase three, ‘Here’s how you can open your aquatic facilities for therapeutic and lap swimming and competitive swimming,’ that is an obligation being a public agency, is to make it work,” he said.
As other agencies worried about losing money while pools were closed, Pilmer said the park district and the city don’t make money off their outdoor aquatic centers. Phillips Park and Splash Country were projected to lose $800,000 this year before the pandemic took hold.
Rather, Pilmer is disappointed Aurora youths might miss out on summer jobs at the centers.
The department of health requires all pools to have a plan for how to enforce social distancing. For water parks, a plan must be submitted for how they’ll space lines for “areas where people line up to use a waterslide, lazy river, or other water features.”
Stolt said the Crystal Lake Park District has hired a half-dozen extra employees this summer to help with cleaning duties so the facilities can begin to open safely.
“We have been anticipating this and I was so happy when I heard,” Stolt said. “The whole Park District, we want to do what we can. For some people, swimming makes the summer.”
