CLEVELAND — It’s beginning to look — and sound — a lot like summer along Lake Erie heading into Memorial Day, widely known as the unofficial start of summer. People of all ages were scattered on the sand at Edgewater Beach Friday.
“Just coming out to hang out and enjoy the sun,” Miranda Webb said.
“Get out the house, get some fresh air, get some sun, get a tan going,” Stephanie Beran added.
And why not? We have the temperatures for it. Visitors like Mindy Strawser and her daughter have already come to Edgewater Beach multiple times this spring.
“Anytime we can get close to the beach, she calls this the ocean,” Strawser said. “I’m hoping this summer we can get out as much as possible. Her dad and I love to kayak so we kayak this all the time.”
Kayaks, boats, swimmers. The U.S. Coast Guard says this weekend is really the start of recreational water activities and they’re reminding everyone to come prepared.
“That means making sure they have a lifejacket and they’re wearing it. Also, that they’re checking the weather ahead of time to make sure there aren’t any storms in the forecast that could lead to trouble for them. And then in addition to that making sure they have a way to contact us if there’s an emergency,” said Petty Officer Andrew Barresi with the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District.
It also means being prepared for the water temperature, which is still hovering between 55 and 60 degrees in Lake Erie.
“You don’t want to submerge yourself in that. You’re going to get hypothermic. You’ll start losing dexterity in your fingers and things like that,” Barresi said.
This year five people have drowned in Lake Erie, according to The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, including one person this week at Edgewater Beach.
Cleveland Metroparks recommends you only swim with a lifeguard around. Its beaches won’t have lifeguards on duty until June 1 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Lake Metroparks says it’s happy last year’s lifeguard shortage did not repeat this year. They’ll have lifeguards starting Saturday, May 25, five days a week through the summer.
Some cities across Northeast Ohio are still struggling to staff their pools. City of Cleveland spokesperson Tyler Sinclair said the city had about 70 lifeguards last year and, based on the pool of applicants this year, he thinks numbers will be within that range again. That will determine which pools will be open and for how long.
He said the city is doing more to try and recruit lifeguards.
“But we've taken a lot of extensive efforts since last summer after realizing there was a shortage. So, one of the things we did was offer high school students pay during training," he said. "Before, when people were completing lifeguard training, they weren’t paid. You weren’t able to get paid until you completed training and were on the job. Now we took the step as an incentive.”
Sinclair said the city is looking to put out opening dates and hours by the end of next week.