Thousands of people descended Victoria Beach on Sunday, August 4, 2024.
Perfect weather and the holiday weekend were both likely contributing factors for one of the largest crowds of the summer.
With that number of people, parking was at a premium – if you could find any.
Like most days, a number of people paid to park in the municipal lot on Charles Street, and received $160.00 tickets for doing so as the lot is only for residents of Cobourg who have a seasonal pass.
With the amount of people and the amount of infractions, Municipal by-law did the best they could, but likely could have used more staff for the amount of people that were in the area of the harbour, lakeshore and beach area.
It seemed like some people gave up trying to find a spot and parked anywhere, including where they shouldn’t. On Division Street, near Charles Street, a number of vehicles were clearly in the no parking areas, but they still chose to park. And rightfully so, received tickets.
Some of the vehicles were impeding sightlines for vehicles pulling out of Charles Street onto Division Street.
Another vehicle had a ticket for $100.00 for literally parking at the entrance to the boardwalk at the bottom of Division Street. It would have made access for anyone in a wheelchair impossible.
Boats were coming and going throughout the day and there was a line-up at the gas docks for boaters waiting patiently to fill-up.
One Cobourg Police officer patrolled the area of Victoria Park, including the beach and harbour area, but other than that it didn’t seem like there were any police visible.
With the Cobourg Police trailer now gone from the campground for the first time in likely a decade and no lifeguards, people are left to police themselves along the beach.
The lifeguard stands which were built only a few years ago outlasted the lifeguards who for the second year, are not working at the beach.
The lifeguards did a lot more than just watch people swimming. They were the eyes and ears of people on the beach and would notice infractions.
A bylaw officer advised a number of people on the east pier that jumping off the pier was prohibited, although missed that a number of people were fishing on the inside of Cobourg Harbour.
For people who wanted a more peaceful time at the beach a small group of individuals along with two canine friends set-up on the inner harbour and seemed to have the area to themselves for most of the day.
A youth from Cobourg tried helping out an individual who had been using a magnet along the east pier.
The magnet is used for dredging the bottom and hopefully find items of value.
Unfortunately this time, the person cast the magnet a bit to close to a barge. And with the strength of the magnet there was no way it was coming off the barge without a bit of help.
The youth jumped into the water and using a hammer tried to remove the magnet from the barge. In the end, the magnet was too strong and is still attached to the barge.
A long line of people waited for their favourite ice-cream treat on Division Street at Harbourlight Delights.
Early in the evening, the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard Cape Rescue went out for evening training on Lake Ontario while beach goers stayed catching the last glimpse of the sun for another day.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
