Only a few suburban beaches will be open this week. Here are which ones.
Though most suburban beaches remain closed because of the pandemic, two beaches are open for recreation and swimming and a third is scheduled to open Friday.
The Spring Lake Beach in Lincolnshire and the Waukegan Municipal Beach are both open for swimming with no lifeguards present.
The beach at Gilson Park in Wilmette is open for lounging but closed for swimming. Wilmette Parks Executive Director Steven Wilson said officials will allow swimming during Phase 3 of Illinois' reopening plan, slated to begin Friday, unless instructed otherwise by state officials.
Gilson and the Waukegan Municipal Beach are on Lake Michigan. Spring Lake Beach surrounds a small, shallow body of water about 500 feet long and 100 feet wide near the Des Plaines River.
Lincolnshire Village Manager Brad Burke said the village board decided to cancel all public events through July 4, which included the annual holiday festivities at Spring Lake Beach. In addition, the board decided not to provide lifeguards at Spring Lake Beach this summer.
To keep crowd sizes down at Gilson Park, officials suspended the sale of day passes, requiring everyone wanting to use the beach to buy a season pass. Wilson said to this point the crowds haven't been large enough to justify keeping people out, but he saidofficials would prevent people from entering the beach if it was too crowded to practice social distancing.
Centennial Beach in Naperville is closed but is tentatively scheduled to open on June 20. Ray McGury, executive director of the Naperville Park District, said there were too many variables for the district to consider opening the beach by Memorial Day, when beaches traditionally open. McGury said the June date would give district officials the opportunity get the beach ready.
The Paulus Park Beach and Spray Ground in Lake Zurich remains closed, but Lake Zurich village manager Ray Keller said officials hope they can open it at some point during the summer. Keller said village staff is monitoring what other communities are doing and looking for best practices across the country.
Other beaches that are closed but might reopen during the summer include Bangs Lake and Phil's Beach in Wauconda, Diamond Lake Beach in Mundelein and the Illinois State Beach Park in Zion.
Crystal Lake officials said Main Beach is closed but might reopen when the state advances to Phase 4. However, officials ruled out the possibility of West Beach opening this summer.
Officials in Batavia last month canceled the entire season at Harold Hall Quarry Beach, citing the amount of time it takes to prepare the quarry for public use. And the beach at Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville is closed for the summer as well, according to officials.