In one of the forums I run on Facebook, Wildwood Talk, we have weekly discussions regarding many beach topics. This week’s topic was beach tents.
Beach tents, for those who don’t know, are roughly a ten foot by ten foot tent used like an umbrella to protect yourself from the sun.
In the past few years these tents have been decreasing in price making some of them close to the price of a normal wooden umbrella. Due to the reasonable price we have been seeing more and more tents popping-up on our beaches.
For some reason this topic had caused a issue in our group by pinning people against each-other with the question of, “Should we allow these tents on our beaches?” I decided to look into it and see why or why not.
In 2018 we have seen some towns such as Avon-by-the-Sea, Seaside Heights, Belmar and Sandy Hook ban these tents claiming that anything over 8 feet is obstructing beach goers’ and lifeguard’s views plus it makes their beaches more crammed.
While understanding the need of having a straight-view of the ocean for safety one must question the reasoning why these tents are needed. In some cases it’s a strict medical reason which makes someone not to be able to be in the sun for long exposure. Others, such as mothers with babies, need these tents to keep their children out of the sun.
Also, in making the decision to ban or not to ban a person must look at the amount of space a city’s beaches run and where lifeguards are placed.
In the Wildwoods for example, a beach tent wouldn’t be a problem as there is a third of a mile of sand that people could spread out on. The lifeguards are also constantly moving their stands into the water to make sure they have the best point of view.
Towns like Seaside Heights and Belmar having smaller beaches and already deal with over crowding which makes this ban a good one.
My question for you, the reader, “Should we allow these tents on our beaches?”
When you comment the Facebook post start it off with what town your from so we have an idea of what size your beach is.
