DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. – The beaches in Central Florida proved to provide much needed relief from the heat and a place for relaxation for thousands this Labor Day Weekend.
Thousands jammed into Volusia County keeping businesses and safety personnel busy.
“We’ve been at capacity at most core areas of the beach and all of our off-beach parking lots are at capacity,” said Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs with Volusia Beach Safety.
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They had the red flag flying for rip currents and lifeguards had more people to keep a watchful eye on than normal. Malphurs also said that all of their lifeguards worked this weekend.
The sun stayed shining for almost all of it. We’re in peak hurricane season, but so far this year, it’s just been the typical afternoon summer storms rolling in. Malphurs said that means their other biggest problem they’ve had is people getting stuck in the soft sand.
“A little storm, just something a little off the coast might help with that because we have those lower tides right now. They’re not coming up as high because the surface has been pretty flat,” she said.
The weekend also brought in a boost for beachside businesses but compared to Labor Day 2021, the first year back out of pandemic closures for the holiday weekend, some said the crowds weren’t as big.
“Everything was closed down for so long and everybody came out all at once in droves so it looked like it was so much busier, but I think now everybody is just settling back into the normal way of life and there’s other things to do,” said Michael Luttrell, Assistant General Manager for Crabby Joe’s.
Luttrell said what did bring even more people in this week was the two attempts at NASA’s Artemis launch, just 45 minutes south of the restaurant.
“That was the second scrub and we had been jam packed with people waiting to come see it. Keeping our doors open late for people to come see it, opening early for them to come,” he said.
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