The town beach at Bare Hill Pond opened for the 2013 season on Memorial Day weekend. Staff began its duties on a part-time schedule earlier this week. Beach programs will move into full swing for summer after school ends on June 20.
New director, pond veteran
New beach director Alexandra Luck says that her main goal is to create “a safe, responsible, fun environment” for everyone who uses the beach and its facilities. Luck, who is a 2002 Bromfield School graduate, started working on staff at the pond as a sticker checker when she was in eighth grade.
Luck has been in and around Bare Hill Pond as long as she can remember. She says she began water-skiing when she was six and took sailing classes while she was on the Bare Hill Pond staff.
After high school, Luck graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in community development and health studies, a major she created herself. For her senior thesis, she investigated how summer programs can help young people who have chronic health problems. Luck also holds two master’s degrees, one in public health and one in social work, from the University of Michigan.
Luck has spent many summers working with young people at summer camps. Most recently, she has worked in a public health program at a Fitchburg community center. One of her responsibilities was the development of a program to help high school students find careers in health services.
Luck says that the traditional beach programs Harvard residents have come to expect will be offered again this year, including water aerobics and lessons in swimming, sailing, canoeing, and kayaking. The newest program, which was first offered last summer, is the “water tots” class, for babies six months old and up. Luck is also looking into providing a beach yoga class and says she is open to suggestions for other innovative programs.
High-quality programs, well-trained staff
“My main goal is to make sure programs run smoothly, with high-quality, well-trained staff,” she says.
Luck says she well recalls the careful staff records that long-time beach director Nancy Brown kept in her notebook. For many years, Luck explained, a core group of staff members has regularly progressed through a series of Red Cross certifications. They usually begin as water-safety aides, move on to certification as lifeguards, and eventually become water-safety instructors. The pond staff is made up of a combination of volunteers and paid personnel, their ratio determined by the annual budget. The pond program has more trained staff available than can be paid out of existing funds, Luck noted.
Asked if the ice cream truck still comes to the beach, Luck said, “We sell ice cream ourselves now.” Beginning last year, ice cream sales helped to provide revenue for the Parks and Recreation Commission’s programs. Luck said that bottled water may also be sold at the beach this year, although it will be important to have a recycle bin available if those sales are approved.
Parking, boat ramp, storage changes
Beach-goers who have not visited the pond since last summer will find a number of changes. Most obvious is the reconfiguration of the parking lot, boat ramp, and canoe storage area.
The repaved parking area includes about 40 spaces, neatly outlined in white. That number includes two spaces designated for handicapped users and two reserved for Sheep Island property owners.
Sheep Island house-owner Rick Dickson explained that his great-grandfather, who once owned the land that is now the town beach, retained a right of access through what was then known as Dickson’s Landing for Sheep, Hildreth, and Whiting islands.
Two parking spaces on the boat ramp itself are reserved for short-term use, either by boaters unloading equipment or by people simply enjoying the view across the pond from their cars.
The biggest change to parking regulations is that boat trailers can no longer be parked in what was formerly the lower lot, near the boat launch itself. Once school lets out for the summer, trailers will have to be parked in the high school parking lot off Pond Road. On weekdays while school is still in session, however, that parking lot will be full; so members of the Parks and Recreation Commission and the beach director acknowledged the need for some flexibility in allowing trailer parking at the pond.
Bylaw puts teeth in regs
Another change–not visible but important–came about as a result of a vote at this year’s Annual Town Meeting. Residents voted to include the Bare Hill Pond beach regulations in the town’s bylaws. As a result, according to Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman John Lee Jr., the Harvard Police Department can now enforce rules such as the requirement for a sticker to park at the beach. Lee said that police help could be necessary “in some instances” when someone will not heed the youthful staff members at the pond.
Although the racks for canoes and kayaks have been relocated, Lee says that the Parks and Recreation Commission was able to maintain the same number of racks as in previous years. There were still 100 storage spaces available through the lottery this year, he said, for which about 150 people applied.
Numbered racks for canoes, kayaks
One change from last year, Lee explained, is that boat storage spaces are now assigned by number in an effort to accommodate people who need a lower rack or one closer to the water. In previous years, people returning from a paddle around the pond could put their boat into any spot that happened to be open when they reached shore. Now each person who won a space in the lottery has a designated place.
All boats that come into the launch area must be washed, including canoes and kayaks, beach director Luck said. The measure is necessary to prevent the introduction of invasive weeds, she said. A hose will be available by the gate to the boat launch area.
