Write a commentSummer is just around the corner, and the weatherman is predicting an unusually hot one. Our less than snowy winter may give way to a hotter than usual July and August this year , with 10 or more days predicted to be above 90 degrees.
So what do we do best on such sultry summer days? We head to the beach, if we can. Life is a beach, or so it is said. Many of our happiest moments in childhood revolve around going to the beach. Whether it be the sandy shores of Lake Ontario near Blind Sodus Bay, which was established during the Depression by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) as Fair Haven beach, or the Sandy Dunes of Sandy Island Beach at Sandy Pond, or the less sandy beaches of Selkirk shores State Park, an opportunity to frolic in the waves, build sand castles, or kick sand in each other's faces and to lie out in the sun, all lathered up with the appropriate sun screen, is one of life's greatest pleasures growing up.
In my youth, beach umbrellas were a rarity, and sun tan oil was more prevalent than SPF 50 sun block. We would simply lay down our towels on a flat rock beach called Sheldon's, lather up, and sizzle away like bacon, turning very red in the process, and then pay for it with peeling skin and sleepless nights of tossing and turning. We either didn't know or didn't comprehend that too much sun could be bad for you, or that skin cancers in later life could come about. We just bathed in the warmth of the sun, realizing that such an experience on the rocky shores of Lake Ontario was short lived indeed, and would soon give way to six foot snowstorms and howling winds and blinding blizzards for 6 to 7 months of the year. So it was best to savor the sunshine while it lasted and soak in the serotonin to fortify ourselves for the coming wintry onslaught. Those were the days, indeed.
Of course, back then, many more of us smoked cigarettes, and didn't wear seat belts. They had not yet been invented, and there was no such thing as infant car seats. People didn't wear motorcycle helmets when they drove their Harley's either, and we biked along without the benefit of funny looking bike helmets to shield our brains from the sudden trauma of a spill. As the Virginia Slims commercial said back then, "You've come a long way baby!" That was a slogan intended to lure more women to smoke filtered cigarettes. We did lots of foolish things back then, but at least we returned the glass coke bottles we drank from. Fewer containers wound up in the dump (now known as a landfill).
So, as a chid of the fifties and sixties, when I became Mayor, my dream was to re- open Sheldon's beach as a municipal facility. There used to be a public bath house and city lifeguards stationed there, and we could get there on our bikes, or just walk. It was close, in city, and convenient, if not sandy. And the water was still wet and refreshing, and there weren't as many "moon eyes" washed up on shore. So what if there were drop-offs and uneven, often slippery surfaces to navigate. We managed to navigate well.
One of my greatest regrets as Mayor was the inability to re-open that beach. We were thwarted by the County Health Department and state regulations which require a gradual deepening of the water with no drop offs. They wouldn't let us open the beach, much to my chagrin. Oswego is still, at least officially, a beachless city. That is a shame.
One thought we had was to build a small beach in the harbor to the east of the coal trestle. We even jokingly dubbed it "Charlotte's beach", but effluent from boat motors and other water quality issues mitigated against the idea. I still think it could be done, and I still think we could carve out an exception to the rules for Sheldon's (my good friend, the late Dr. Jim Grant's recommendation to the contrary notwithstanding). People still go to swim there at their own risk, and they did so in droves on weekends in the 80's and 90's much to the chagrin of Dr. Sheldon's successor at Shady Sore, Dr. Virginia Radley, who tried unsuccessfully to "keep the riff raff" away from the beach. Truth be known, I fought mightily with Dr. Radley over the years on many issues, the beach being just one of them.
In my mind, kudos to the halcyon, if bygone, days of carefree summers, and flat rock beaches. State and County regulators be damned. A beach is a beach, and "Oswego-Where the water never ends" is a far better slogan than “Oswego-The City without a beach". What think you?
