Middletown Beach Season Opens to $100,000 Weekend

Town-owned beaches managed by the Parks and Recreation Department brought in roughly $100,000 in total receipts over the holiday weekend.

"We had a great weekend for the end of May, weather-wise, and the same went for the beaches' opening," Middletown Parks and Recreation Director Tim Shaw said Tuesday after reviewing the weekend totals.

The highest volume of business was seen Monday, with beach receipts totaling $40,675. Saturday and Sunday's receipts were $29,435 and $28,720, respectively, for a three-day total of $98,830, according to Shaw.

Shaw noted that business over the long holiday weekend each Memorial Day can be unpredictable and, not surprsingly, depends on the weather.

This last Memorial Day weekend in Middletown saw temperatures topping 80 degrees with relatively clear and sunny skies.

"A year or two ago we had a Memorial Day weekend in the 80s which was just as busy for us," Shaw said in an email. "We are busy with seasonal passes over the first weekend no matter what the weather, but we also get a great spike in business with the weather being worth staying at the beach."

The sale of annual beach passes, available to both local and out-of-town residents, contributed heavily to total receipts brought in over the long holiday weekend too, Shaw said. The annual passes cost $70 for Middletown residents and $140 for non-residents.

"Sticker sales are going great and are at their busiest right now," he said.

It was unknown whether local annual beach pass sales were on the rise among out-of-towners, given the state's recent announcement that it would double its annual fees and day rates at state-run beaches throughout Rhode Island this summer.

"We tend to sell around the same amount of beach passes each season, and I wouldn’t think that would change based on the states rate changes," Shaw said, noting that beach officials will have a better idea of consumer trends when reviewing the end-of-summer figures.

Last summer Middletown reportedly generated a record high in collected beach revenue. Between beach passes and gate fees, the beaches took in almost $1.2 million, of which about $400,000 came from seasonal beach pass sales.