Our Place
The City of Lake Geneva beach revenue dropped 8.5% in the first half of the summer from $197,098 in 2016 to $180,289 in 2017. Since the beach attendance is sensitive to weather, perhaps the drop was weather related. That is unlikely, though, because last summer’s weather was very similar to this summer, except last year’s summer had many more cool, wet and overcast days, with no days above 90 degrees F, and only one day that reached above that before late August. The higher parking rates enacted prior to this summer’s season could have caused a slight decrease in participation, but the real reason about what’s going on is all about how beach attendance has been trending down over the last twenty years.
The beach does not have the same attraction or drawing force on younger people and adults as it did during previous generations. Today there are more competing sources of entertainment, including; water parks, wave pools, wave runners, boat rentals and electronic entertainment including iPhones, iPads, Play Stations, and Internet games. There is also the impact of parental worries about UV exposure, sunburn, melanoma, swimmer’s itch, etc. Each generation determines its wants and likes, and as baseball’s popularity has faded and football has taken over as the dominate sport in the US, so also has America’s youth changed its interests, wants, games and the very image of fun. The image of fun on a sandy beach has significantly diminished in appeal, and is not as aggressively pursued an activity as it was in previous generations. Beach expansion of the sand area back into the park won’t reverse this trend, because the problem isn’t foundational to the overcrowding of the beach, or the fact that there’s not enough room for everyone coming.
However, expanding the beach will certainly add to more taxpayer money being spent fruitlessly, and it will also increase the cost to maintain it.
Burlington Kennel Club
Burlington Kennel Club Dog show. A great event few people know about . The Geneva Shore Report will advertise for free next year.
