WILDWOOD — “The beach is great,” said Jason Harting, of Philadelphia, as he was exiting the beach with a group of friends this weekend. “I just don’t like having to walk around under layers of sand for the rest of the day.”
Finding a place to shower and change, Harting told this reporter, is definitely a challenge.
“It makes day trips kind of difficult,” he added.
As an operator of a parking lot in this city, Charla Lewis told city commissioners in a written letter July 25 that two of the most common question asked of her is, “where can I get changed” and “where can we wash off the sand.”
Lewis wrote that it has become difficult to suggest any where for tourists to shower or change since there are only two bath houses left, which happen to be at opposite ends of the boardwalk.
She said that while there are foot faucets at the end of each pier, often beach goers complain that they frequently malfunction.
“The beach is the original reason Wildwood became a tourist destination,” Lewis said and noted that these two is-sues are “at the heart” of the experience at the beach.
She wrote that her travels to many of the East Coast beaches, even those in Mexico and the Caribbean have a shower where beachgoers can wash off the sand.
Lewis said that according to a guide of the world’s best beaches, providing facilities for changing and showers is one of the criteria for being included.
“I guess we can never hope to be included in this list as long as we ignore a basic need of beachgoers,” she said.
Contact Suit at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25 or lsuit@cmcherald.com