Barnstable Taking Safety Precautions as Beaches Reopen

HYANNIS – Towns across the Cape have implemented safety precautions as  beaches begin to reopen for the summer.

“We haven’t had any issues, I can tell you the patrons have been wonderful and we’ve seen nothing but positive,” said Barnstable Recreation Director Patti Machado.

“Everybody wants to be able to share what we have here and the beauty that we have here and the outdoor spaces and we can only do that if we all do it safely.”

The Town of Barnstable will be doing special training with the entire recreation staff on handling and defusing volatile situations.    

The staff will also be working with Chief of Police Matthew Sonnabend.

Machado said the recreation department will be bringing in special safety officers to help enforce the guidelines that are in place.

“If people do not listen to that staff that is out there, than the safety officer will confront them and then if they give them a hard time we will ask them to leave,” said Machado.

“I hope it doesn’t get to that honestly, I really am hopefully that that’s not going to be where we are at this summer, but we are prepared for insanity and hope it doesn’t happen.”

The town is continuing to sell beach stickers for the summer.

Stickers can be purchased by mailing in an application or by filling one out online.

Machado said that mail in purchases are taking about a week to be processed, while online purchases are taking about three weeks due to people sending in the wrong information.  

“We’ve sold about 12,000 beach stickers already through the mail,” said Machado.

“These three weeks here, are our busiest weekends selling stickers usually, we usually sell around 20,000 so we are doing pretty good I think.”

Payments will be accepted electronically at the gatehouses at Barnstable beaches.

It is $25 for those who wish to pay at the gate.

For more information on Barnstable Recreation and Barnstable town beach stickers, click here.