A wild Friday night at Colchester Beach has forced the Town of Essex to close the beach until further notice.
During an emergency meeting Monday afternoon, council heard from town officials that hundreds of students from high schools across the region gathered at the beach for a graduation party, resulting in multiple complaints from residents about illegal drinking, littering and overcrowding.
Councillor Steve Bjorkman says, with COVID-19 restrictions in place, a crowded beach makes physical distancing impossible.
Bjorkman says the entire weekend was a headache.
"I spent the weekend out there just keeping an eye on what was going on and what I saw, Friday night, obviously, was a debacle," he says. "I'm going to call it a unique night even from what I've seen there the last couple of years. However, there's still a ton of people that could not stay away from one another."
Essex council meets on June 22, 2020 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Bjorkman says he doesn't want Essex to be the reason the region is stuck in Stage 1 of the province's reopening plan.
"We are still in Stage 1. We got left here again this week. We're going to, one of these days I'm afraid, be one of the reasons that we stay in this because they're going to say, 'Look what's happening out here. You're not controlling your population' We're going to actually add to the reason why we don't get out of Stage 1," he says.
Bjorkman says, with many other beaches in the region closed, people are coming to Colchester from all corners of Windsor-Essex.
"The people want to get out and we're the only place they can go. They're coming from the entire county to use our beach and they're going to keep coming. Until we can open our washrooms and provide a safe and secure beach that people can use, I don't think we should be open at all," he adds.
Prior to reopening, town officials say they're going to look at changing procedures to ensure the beach continues to be a family-friendly destination for visitors.