Busy weekend at Douglass Beach

With many Montreal area beaches closed entirely or with strict limitations on capacity, many TBL residents hypothesize that Montreal residents are coming to this region instead. With the long lineups reported for pools and beaches by the Journal de Montreal, it is no surprise that people are heading to the country where regulations are less strict and there are less people to compete with.

With the parking lot overflowing over the US holiday weekend, another resident wondered about having to pay to park at the beach, “Why did we pay for passes (the windshield sticker) when no one is in the booth and everyone has free reign?”

The Town of Brome Lake is introducing control measures to mitigate these concerns.

A press release from the town included a plan for a parking attendant to be “stationed at the entrance of the parking lot, in particular to collect entrance fees”.

Parking will still be free for residents with the sticker and $10 per car for nonresidents, or $6 after 3 p.m.

The town is looking for employees for the parking attendant position and encourages candidates to get more information at 450-242-2020 or at infoloisirs@ville.lac-brome.qc.ca.

Many people also expressed confusion over the change of regulations over who can park at the beach. When the beach first opened for the season, only residents of TBL were allowed to use the parking lot. Since then, the regulations have changed to include non-residents as well.

While some community members were not happy with this development, Ghyslain Forcier, communication manager of TBL, explained in a phone interview the decision to allow nonresidents to park at the beach.

“The problem we faced was a lot of people parked everywhere around the beach and it caused a lot of problems for the circulation on Conference Street and on a lot of surrounding streets. It could have been problematic for emergency services, if there was a fire or something like that.”

He continued, “The parking was really not full, so we had a situation where the parking wasn’t full, but a lot of people were parked everywhere. It was a little bit of a mess.”

The town decided to give access back to the parking lot so everyone would cease parking on the surrounding streets and causing safety hazards.

According to the press release, “A portion of the parking lot will be reserved for Brome Lake residents”. This solution was frequently brought up by residents over the last week as well.

Several people expressed discomfort about the number of tourists coming to town with the pandemic still going strong.

“It’s too risky to have all this going on”, one resident said, “I bet there are very few Lac Brome residents at the beach”.

Another added that she is “afraid we’ll see the return of the virus”.

On weekends and during the twoweek construction holiday the town will be hiring “someone with the mandate to enforce physical distance on the beach site”. While the security guard will be surveying the land of Douglass Beach, the lifeguard on duty will also be making sure social distancing is respected in the water.

When asked about the wearing of masks, Forcier responded that “for now, masks are not being enforced on the beach, but the town recommends wearing the mask when going to closed places where social distancing is impossible”. He adds that the beach is a place where masks are recommended.

As of now, there is no project in the works by TBL to make wearing masks mandatory, but the town is closely following the public health guidelines.

The debate is still divided as to whether TBL should be welcoming tourists during this time.

“We need tourists and visitors in Knowlton” said one resident, “downtown is dead and businesses are doing miracles to survive.”

Businesses seem to be pro-tourism during the pandemic.

One store in Knowlton explained, “We here at Boulangerie Lace value every person who enters our establishment. We have the sanitation station set up and make sure everyone uses it. With the regulations the Quebec government have put into place, we feel comfortable serving locals and tourists alike.”

Other businesses have expressed gratitude for the sanitation stations provided by the town and are happy to have tourists if it allows their establishments to stay afloat.