Veteran's Memorial Park Beach

First let me say that we have been coming to Lake George and Bolton Landing for years and enjoy your town so much, for its shops, restaurants and beaches.

In review, we came to Veterans Memorial Beach at the end of our vacation to spend our last day at the beach as we do every year. So when we arrived at about 2PM we pulled in toward the entry Booth where a sign said Sorry Full, which was due to the COVID-19 New York State restrictions. We then spoke to the gate attendant Evelyn who said sorry we are over capacity and no more are allowed in. So I asked her how much over capacity and she said about 13 people. So both my wife and I asked can we wait here in the parking lot (there were many open spaces) until enough people leave so that we can enter. Evelyn said no you cannot wait here you have to leave. Now as we were talking, we counted 7 people who were walking out with their beach stuff toward their cars and 2 more who were packing up on the beach preparing to leave. So we said to Evelyn, see 7 people just left and 2 more are preparing to leave (obviously she was not counting) so we only need about 4 more to leave. Now remember this was mid afternoon when people start to leave the beach as they do at beaches all over the country. Evelyn said no you cannot wait here. We said that this was absurd that waiting in the parking lot with so many empty spaces has nothing to do with actual on the beach capacity. We asked for the name of her supervisor who she said was Michelle, but who was not there at the moment. We said that we would leave but that we would return at which time we were sure there would be more space on the beach for us.

We returned about 25 minutes later and felt confident that a sufficient amount of people would have left, and sure enough we saw four people exit their cars with their beach gear and walk to the beach. We still saw the sign Full and we drove up to Evelyn and said so I guess now we will be allowed in. She said no they were again at capacity. So we said you told us we could not wait in the parking lot and had to leave and now when we come back people are allowed to enter but we cannot. Evelyn said "well I could not hold the spots for you because you left." I said to her, listen how ridiculous this sounds. You told us we could not wait here, had to leave and then when we came back people were allowed in and you said you could not hold a space for us you left. Shaking our heads in disbelief I said to Evelyn, what you are saying is ridiculous and asinine. Then Evelyn said now you are not welcome here you must leave. We again asked to speak to her Supervisor Michelle who now was coming toward us. As she approached, I asked her name and she said Michelle Huck, Recreation Supervisor. We explained exactly what had happened as described in detail above. Michelle, said due to New York State Covid-19 the beach was at capacity and no more can be allowed in. Michelle said the State Troopers come by and check compliance. We looked at the beach and it certainly did not look at Covid capacity and of course the parking lot had many, many open spaces. We heatedly argued with Michelle repeating what we said initially but to no avail. She said you can go to Town Hall and complain. Yes we got very, very upset because we felt being from out of town we were discriminated against and that locals were allowed in but not us under the excuse of Covid. Michelle said we had to leave or she would call the police. and we replied go ahead they might be very interested to hear how you and the gate attendant Evelyn had mishandled this situation. My wife and I then decided since it was now almost 3:30PM that we would leave and go to Town Hall which is what we did and then spoke to you through the screened window.

It is totally unprofessional and incorrect to treat visitors who come to this town, and frequent the shops and restaurants with the disrespect that was shown to us. Despite this we still ate at a restaurant in town and actually spoke to the owner whom we had met last year. We told him what happened and he said that this was handled incorrectly by your Town employees. He further said that this is typical of the government being unprepared to handle different situations.