You will need a seasonal, weekly or resident sticker to park at north-side beaches in Dennis this Fourth of July.
In an effort to deter the kind of trouble that has plagued Mayflower, Chapin and Bayview beaches in the past few years, the town will not accept one-day parking passes on the Fourth; ban parking in neighborhoods near the beaches; and impose a zero-tolerance policy for bad behavior.
Town leaders met with the news media at busy Mayflower Beach on Wednesday to stress that the steps are being taken to head off the kind of incidents that have marred summer in Dennis the past few years.
“The biggest thing is managing the traffic—managing the traffic and crowds,” said Dennis Chief of Police John Brady. “Because we want to make sure we can respond to an emergency when we need to. If we get overwhelmed by traffic and crowds, we may not get to an emergency, and that’s what we don’t want.”
This Fourth of July, a checkpoint will be set up at the mile-long road that leads to the northside beaches. Cars without a seasonal, weekly or resident parking permits will be turned away.
In recent years, a new phenomenon has emerged: people taking ride-share cars to the beach. Those people will still be allowed on the beach, but only if they want to walk the mile or so from the checkpoint where they will have to be dropped off.
The Chairman of the Dennis Select Board, Chris Lambton, said public safety is the goal of the temporary regulations.
“I think we have a great plan that the neighborhoods are going to appreciate,” Lambton said. “Mayflower Beach is right in the middle of a neighborhood, so it affects a lot of people. We’re going to control the numbers here and make it a safe and fun event which is what the Fourth of July should be.”
Since 2019, there has been a one hundred percent increase in beach-related emergency calls at Mayflower, Chapin, and Bayview, the three public beaches on the north side of Dennis, according to Dennis police.
Enormous gatherings are blamed for much of the trouble.
“The size of these parties and unruly behavior they can generate make it very difficult for Dennis first responders, including lifeguards, to properly patrol the beaches and identify problems and respond to emergencies,” Brady said.
Some incidents at Dennis beaches have been particularly ugly.
In 2023, a police officer was surrounded by what police called, “a group of disorderly individuals” who assaulted him.
A man was assaulted in a bathroom at Mayflower Beach and suffered serious head and facial injuries.
Also last year, a woman was struck by a car in a beach parking lot during a dispute with several people.
The town has also dealt with vandalism at beach bathrooms, and beaches inundated with trash, prompting town officials and residents to volunteer to clean the beaches.
While town leaders stressed the new regulations are for one day only, they will closely monitor beach conditions this summer
“The current plan is for these restrictions to be in place only for July Fourth and only for this year. Town officials will then evaluate the effectiveness of these measures and evaluate if they will be continue in subsequent years,” Lambton said.
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