Palmyra Twp. beach closes early for season

PALMYRA TWP. (Pike) - The Palmyra Township Public Beach is closed for the 2020 season.

A posting dated August 11 by the Palmyra Township Public Beach states that the early closure is due to staffing shortages. "There was no issue with water quality," the posting states.

College students, who make up much of the staff, have already left for school or were getting set to leave.

The concession stand and rest rooms are locked for the season, and the beach parking lot gate has been shut.

The beach still can be accessed from the walking trail. Swimming at this time is at one's own risk, the Township Beach posting states.

The beach opened in mid-June, once Pike County had moved to the Green phase under the Governor's system of reopening the state from the lockdown imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Normally the beach would have been open by Memorial Weekend.

The August 11 closing further shortens the 62nd annual season for the township beach, which is normally open through at least the fourth weekend of the month. That would have been the weekend of Wally Lake Fest, which was canceled this year due to the pandemic.

Fred and Linda Gelderman managed the beach this season, and needed to maintain special regulations this year such as wearing of face masks and encouraging social distancing due to the potential Covid-19 risks.

"We thank everyone for your patronage and patience during this unprecedented summer and we hope you all have a happy, healthy and safe 2020-2021 years. See you next Summer!," the Township Beach Facebook post concludes.

The only public beach on Lake Wallenpaupack is alongside the much-used public Wallenpaupack Lake Trail. Anyone is free to take walks on the trail, which extends from the Tafton Dike, goes alongside the Lake Wallenpaupack Visitors Center and continues along the lake past Wilsonville Campgrounds and the high school to the Brookfield site which includes the dam and where Brookfield's Wallenpaupack Creek Trail begins.

The public beach at Promised Land State Park is open, just off Route 390, about 9.6 miles from the Palmyra Township Public Beach.